The good news is the SC Legislature and Voters have seen through their scam, so these paid for political attacks by sic(k) willie are about as interesting and convincing as a loaded diaper. Sticky, stinky and nothing but poop.

Remember what Jakie said when he beat one of Howie’s carpetbuggers.

Vouchers are “dead.”

BIN News Editorial Staff
Flair and Balanced

Accountability thwarted
Federal rules obscure

Published: Thursday, October 2, 2008 at 3:15 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, October 1, 2008 at 7:50 p.m.
Fewer South Carolina schools met federal standards this year for adequate yearly progress.

It isn’t because the schools are getting worse or children aren’t learning as much. The students are learning more, and the schools are improving. The higher test scores on the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests (PACT) show that improvement.

But the improvement is deemed inadequate by a failed federal system that twists state processes and obscures any meaningful standard of progress.

The purpose of the state testing and reporting is supposed to be accountability. The state system achieved that goal. But the addition of a federal level of analysis and reporting through the No Child Left Behind law has done nothing but obscure that accountability.

To begin with, when South Carolina created its accountability system, it set a stringent definition of proficient. The state set its goals high. But when No Child Left Behind was passed, it turned those standards against the state. It set goals for how many South Carolina children must meet the proficient standard each year.

It is easy in states with low definitions of proficient. It is difficult in South Carolina.

Then the federal requirements for how many students meet the proficient standard jumped by 50 percent this year. And they will keep rising. By 2014, the federal law demands that every child in the state’s schools be proficient. That’s simply not a reasonable standard.

So while our schools are improving, the No Child Left Behind system indicates that they are getting worse.

That’s not accountability. It’s confusion.

And that confusion hurts schools. It tells parents and taxpayers that the schools are worse than they really are, which erodes support for schools. It demoralizes teachers, administrators and even students.

What makes matters worse is that the federal government has no right to meddle in schools. Education is a state matter. The federal government has no constitutional role to play in running state schools.

Congress should concentrate on all the federal problems that it has created, made worse and put off solving. It should let the states take care of their own schools. This state had created a perfectly good accountability system before Washington ruined it.

No Child Left Behind should be killed. The law actually expired last year, but built in extensions keep it running. Congress has been unable to reach an agreement to reauthorize the law. It should scrap it and let states run their own schools.

This story appeared in print on page A10

Gresham…I smell a mailer!