This letter to the editor by Secretary Rod Paige appeared in The La Crosse Tribune (Wisconsin) on August 31, 2003.
I would like to take a moment to set the record straight with respect to some of the issues raised in your recent article on the No Child Left Behind law.
With regard to funding, never before in the history of our country has a President invested so much in education. Despite all the priorities competing for our tax dollars—strengthening our economy, defending our nation and expanding opportunities for all Americans—the President's proposed budget for next year boosts education funding to $53.1 billion—an $11 billion increase since he took office.
Total K-12 federal spending has already gone up $5.25 billion, or 30.4 percent, under No Child Left Behind and another large increase is expected this year. President Bush's budget for next year proposes increasing special education funding to $9.5 billion, the highest level of federal funding ever requested by a President for children with disabilities and a 50 percent increase over the level of funding when he took office.
Your article also included claims that No Child Left Behind is based on a one-size-fits-all approach and is problematic because it asks every student to meet high expectations. In fact, No Child Left Behind provides unprecedented flexibility to target resources where they are needed most, especially for rural communities, and relies on local and state officials to make all of the key decisions regarding education.
As for the idea that it is wrong to expect every child to meet the same standard, many call this the soft bigotry of low expectations. It is reflective of the old way of doing things, where many students succeeded while others were allowed to simply slide through the system without learning. It has no place in America's schools.
The bottom line is this: No Child Left Behind provides historic levels of federal funding and unprecedented flexibility and is helping make sure that every child is learning.
Rod Paige is U.S. Secretary of Education.
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