NCLB not to be renewed this Year !

Buried in a tiny, news wire provided story, back on page A7 of today's San Diego Union-Tribune Front Page section, was this headline: "Rewrite Postponed on education law."

Dateline: "Washington - The top two lawmakers on the Senate Education Committee said yesterday they are putting off consideration of a new No Child Left Behind law until next year.

Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., said there's not enough time this year to complete work on the legislature, which has not yet been formally submitted.

The five-year law, up for a scheduled rewrite, requires math and reading tests in grades three through eight and once in high school. Schools that miss testing benchmarks face increasingly stiff sanctions. The law is among President Bush's top domestic-policy priorities. (Associated Press) "


So, does this mean NCLB will continue as it currently is written ? Does this mean that our elected representatives in Washington do not wish to threaten the huge amounts of campaign money from the teachers unions that they need to try to win whatever elections for 2008, by quickly rewriting NCLB so that it continues to please few and makes enemies of the teachers unions ? Does this mean that NCLB will not be funded for the 2007-08 fiscal year (or was it already funded by Congress for fiscal year 2007-08?) Is this action on part of the Senate Education Committee a way to kill NCLB ?

I have also heard that the California Teacher's Association is totally "put out" with Rep. Miller, a California Democrat and leader of the House of Representatives Education Committee, because he apparently refused to even meet with CTA President David Sanchez. (I wonder how many thousands of teacher's money CTA has given to Rep. Miller over the years ?) I will be looking forward to hearing Rep. Miller's comments regarding this delay in moving forward with much needed changes in NCLB.

Thanks for reading my blog.