Education Expert Highlights NEA's Campaign Against 'No Child Left Behind'
by Jim Brown
July 18, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A new report says the United States' largest teachers union, the National Education Association (NEA), has spent at least $8.2 million to fight "No Child Left Behind," President George W. Bush's signature education law. The report released by the group Education Sector details how the NEA has funneled millions to liberal advocacy, legislative, and civil rights groups to fight No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Among the groups the union is paying to oppose that education law is Communities for Quality Education, a non-profit group started by the NEA to advance its political causes.
Joe Williams, author of Education Sector's report, points out that Communities for Quality Education has organized rallies and purchased billboards protesting No Child Left Behind. Ironically, however, he says the NEA and other opponents of that law excoriated conservative radio commentator Armstrong Williams, viciously condemning him for using taxpayer dollars to promote NCLB on his program for the Bush administration.
But when it comes to Communities for Quality Education and other groups that are involved with the issue and that are getting money from the liberal teachers union, Joe Williams explains, "we're not necessarily suggesting a quid pro quo." What he and other analysts are suggesting, he says, "is that there's a relationship between some of the groups and the NEA, and that it's worth noting that relationship when we have the kind of discussion that we're about to have about reauthorizing the law."
The Education Sector senior fellow says America is about to have a very important debate about what direction NCLB is going to take. "This is a very important law," he asserts. "It has serious ramifications, and I think people on all sides of the issue tend to agree that there are going to need to be changes to the law to make it work best."
Like any major education program, this one will require some tweaking; and Education Sector spokesman points out that those on various sides of the issue can be expected to have differing opinions about what adjustments should be made. "That's natural," he says, "but as we have this debate, it's important to know who is speaking for whom."
The NEA understands that public education is inherently political, Williams observes. That is why he contends it is important to note that the powerful teachers union has shelled out millions of dollars to numerous liberal advocacy groups "that have echoed NEA's criticisms" of No Child Left Behind.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
