There is one real flaw in the opening. When the editors say "The Republican Party long has touted a decentralization of power away from Washington and the principle that education should be a local matter."

They forget the rest of the sentence, that is "...unless Washington is a Republican controlled!"

It seems they have no problem with Republican's passing bills that expand federal power over states:

- No child left behind
- Restricting state medical boards from allowing physician to perform IDE procedures.
- Bush vetoing a bill to expand the ability of states to pay for SCHIP medical insurance for children.

There are many more instances. Just remember IOKIYAR (Its OK If You Are Republican).

NCLB is one of the worst pieces of legislation passed ever. I don't understand how people can think that Washington has all the answers for every situation in the country. It just doesn't make sense.

GWB above does have it right when he says Repubs lose their common sense when they have too much power. I don't understand how someone can move from a state back to DC and not keep any scruples.

Get rid of the law. DC has no clue what my child needs in his class and should not be involved. The states need to cut the money strings from this issue. And it does come down to money, plain and simple.

The inequalities in test scores are not problems a school is qualified to rectify. Poverty reaches far beyond the classroom. It would be huberous if teachers believed the social conditions creating these differences in test scores can be remedied with better teaching. We can make a difference; we can try new ideas and devote more resources in closing this gap; however, the gap is there due to poverty, not to poor teaching practices nor bad teachers.

The best school my child went to was a school that refused goverment money and the NCLB program. That school had 90 % parent participation and my daughter was given the ability to excell in areas she was good at and extra help in areas she needed it in. I agree these schools need money, but I don't believe the government knows where my childs school needs to spend it. I say lets leave the NCLB program behind

vouchers are the answer

Vouchers are the answer? To what? We should expand NCLB to private schools? Really?

No Child Left Behind = No Child Gets Ahead

And that's at the heart of the matter. Middle- and upper-class parents in middle- and upper-class schools hate it, but children at the bottom benefit from it.

Think about it! Has ANYTHING Mr. Bush pushed or touched been successful from day 1? Even education is like a bar of wet soap for him.

NCLB is a symptom of, and a part of, the problem. It is not the answer. We have a large scale, Socialist bureaucracy that has dicsonnected education consumers from the producers and attempts to stick government in as the mediator. The results are predictable as the sunrise. The government enforced monopoly underperforms (as any monopoly will do) and directs its attention to servicing the source of its funding not its patron families, and the response is to institute additional "accountability" mechanisms, which don't work and which cost additional resources to implement.

Congress exceeds its specific Constitutional mandate not only in enacting laws such as NCLB, but in even having a Department of Education.

If we are going to subsidize education with tax dollars, then let's subsidize the student, not the bureaucracy.