Some questions to be answered after eliminating the USED
Michael Gendre | April 7, 2016
Before we win the fight against the inferior Common Core standards in Massachusetts, we need to prepare the Commonwealth, and potentially the country, for the aftermath of the disastrous experiment known as Common Core. The fight for an academically sound K-12 education will not end with the elimination of Common Core.
United States Parents Involved in Education (USPIE) believes the first step toward reclaiming excellent education for America’s children is to end the US Department of Education (USED) and all federal education mandates, and return control of the public schools to local boards and parents. As an increasing number of parents, teachers, and voters in the Commonwealth move closer to dismantling the Common Core experiment (November 2016 ballot question), and as President of USPIE’s chapter in the Bay State, I propose questions concerning policies that should be considered for the future of education.
1. How will schools be accountable if standardized testing is eliminated? Should local school boards made up of parents, taxpayers and teachers monitor academic progress of individual students? Or should parents be provided broad freedom to choose schools that are in the best interest of their children providing competition among schools and accountability resting in the hands of satisfied parents?
2. Until USED and all federal education mandates are ended, how should Title I funds be given to the states? As block grants to a committee on education in the state legislature? Should Title I funds be able to follow children if parents chose private schools, and if so, should the federal government be required to eliminate all mandates for private institutions receiving Title I funds? Should Educational Savings Accounts be established for parents who don’t want their kids in public schools?
3. When the USED is dismantled, how will Congress respond to the cancellation of funds appropriated to a federal program? Should the $70 billion savings to taxpayers be used?
These are just some of the questions that will be facing the Bay State, and soon the rest of the country. If you agree with the mission of USPIE, please join the movement to Stop Fed Ed by visiting uspie.org.
Michael Gendre is president of the Massachusetts chapter of USPIE and author with Nicolas Sanchez of “Aligning Values and Politics—Empowerment versus Entitlement” (University Press of America, 2016).
