During his weekly address on Saturday, President Barack Obama said he wants to work with lawmakers to replace the No Child Left Behind education platform implemented by his predecessor, but criticized the current Republican education reform plan for being just as bad.
"For decades, we threw money at education without making sure our schools were actually improving, or whether we were giving teachers the tools they need, or whether our taxpayer dollars were being used effectively. And our kids too often paid the price," Obama said, reported The Hill.
The president said he wants to work with Congress to address the overuse of standardized tests, invest in preschools and give every child a "fair shot in the new economy."
"Now, it's pretty commonsense that an education bill should actually improve education," the president continued. "But as we speak, there's a Republican bill in Congress that would frankly do the opposite."
It's the first time the president has weighed on the Republican education reform plan, which passed the House Education Committee earlier this week. The GOP legislation would replace the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law and return greater authority to states, rather than rely on the federal government to fix failing schools.
The proposal would also combine multiple federal programs into a single flexible local grant program, according to The Washington Times. The House is expected to vote on the bill later this month.
While both parties largely agree that the No Child Left Behind law needs reforming, Obama said Saturday the Republican proposal would be detrimental for children.
"At a time when we should invest more in our kids, their plan would lock in cuts to schools for the rest of this decade. We'd end up actually investing less in our kids in 2021 than we did in 2012," the president said. "At a time when we should give our teachers all the resources they need, their plan could let states and cities shuffle education dollars into things like sports stadiums or tax cuts for the wealthy."
"At a time when we have to give every child, everywhere, a fair shot - this Congress would actually allow states to make even deeper cuts into school districts that need the most support, send even more money to some of the wealthiest school districts in America, and turn back the clock to a time when too many students were left behind in failing schools."
Three years ago, the Obama administration established a system of waivers which states could use to opt out of No Child Left Behind as long as they worked on developing reform plans that met the administration's requirements, reported the Times. So far, more than 40 states have had their waiver requests approved, effectively voiding the No Child law in each of those states.
