Bush Education Policy Remains Poorly Defined

I appreciated “No Politics Left Behind in Education Debate” (Jan. 25), but it did not go far enough. Not only is the administration promoting teaching to the test and not funding its own mandates, but it is also refusing to define its own law. Terms like “rigorous” test for instructional assistants or “qualified” teachers go without any explanation. The state Legislature and local districts have been scrambling to try to figure out how to comply with the law so they will not lose millions of Title I dollars.

California passed SB 1405, which basically says that the school districts in our state are already in compliance, but the feds will not sanction the bill. In addition, they tell districts they will define the terms by 2006, when it is too late. I applaud those who can afford to opt out of the Title I money. However, for districts that can’t, it seems to me that the Bush administration has the agenda to pull the rug out from under them, when they are trying to meet the standards but can’t get any guidance from their creators.

Kathy Rallings

Seal Beach