Haley Barbour: “Thank God” for No Child Left Behind Waivers

By Adam Sorensen | @adamsorensen | August 26, 2011 | +

Just one part of Andrew Rotherham’s very good Q&A with Education Secretary Arne Duncan:

How do you respond to critics who say that linking waivers to conditions [such as improving teacher evaluations or data systems] goes beyond the authority you have under the law?

Secretary Spellings had waiver authority and used it. We’re doing the same thing, and we’re absolutely confident in our legal authority. I know not everyone in Congress is thrilled, but I’ve talked to 45 or 46 governors, almost every governor, Republican, Democrat, everyone is saying, “At least someone in Washington is listening to the real world.” Haley Barbour in Mississippi said, “Thank God someone is listening.” There isn’t one governor saying, “I’m not interested” or “Why are you doing this?”

I hope this will be a bridge or transition to reauthorization [of the No Child law]. I wish we would have gotten there, hasn’t happened yet, but I hope it will. But it would be the height of arrogance and tone-deafness to just sit here and do nothing when you have a law that simply isn’t working for children, their schools, and teachers.

Related Topics: Education

@TIMEPolitics

Latest on Swampland

Mitt Romney May 25, 2012

On Education, Romney Seeks Distance from Obama–and Bush

In a speech at the Latino Coalition’s Annual Economic Summit in Washington DC on Wednesday, Mitt Romney called the U.S. education system a failure. Every child deserves a quality education, he said, particularly minority students who are consistently under-served. Fixing it, according to Romney, is the “civil rights issue of our era.”
From our Partners
Lewis Eisenberg, Major Romney Donor, Accuses Obama Of Demonizing Wall StreetHuffPost Politics

Twice-Told TalesSlate
Mitt Romney's $11.7 Million Raised In April Isn't The Whole PictureHuffPost Politics
Gay Marriage May 24, 2012

Obama’s Persuasive Powers on Gay Marriage Manifest in Maryland

When President Obama endorsed gay marriage earlier this month, the media grappled with two basic political questions: Was his personal “evolution” a case of a politician transparently following a national trend toward accepting same-sex unions (accelerated, perhaps, by his chatty No. 2), and would it hurt his re-election chances by alienating socially conservative voters like black churchgoers? Sure, there was a recognition that it marked a gratifying moment for gay-marriage advocates — as well as some grumbling about the President’s view that it remains a state issue, not a federal one. But by and large, there were few suggestions that one man, even the President, would shift public opinion on the issue or affect public policy. Based on a new Public Policy Polling survey out of Maryland, it seems this possibility was underestimated.