Bush could not have gotten his education agenda...Democrats would have opposed him.

[madfloridian]

4. The American public school under siege. Long post by professor at Huff Post.

Michael Brenner is a Senior Fellow, the Center for Transatlantic Relations; Professor of International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh.

The American Public School Under Siege

This past week, as the deadline approached for states to make their submissions to Arne Duncan's Department of Education requesting monies appropriated under the Race to the Top initiative, we were reminded that the DOE has decreed that no proposal will be considered where the state government has put a cap on charter schools. In other words, the federal government has put its thumb heavily on the scales of local deliberations as to what approach toward charter schools best serves their communities' interests. Penalties are being imposed on those who choose to limit, in any quantitative way, the charter school movement.

Thus the charter schools grow more quickly. The Dept of Ed is buying compliance.

More:[blockquote]Duncan's office has been the moving force behind a concerted effort to conceal the reality of what charter schools have, and have not, accomplished. The truth is not very pretty. Overall, the performance of their students on standardized tests, and graduation rates, are marginally worse on than those of the country's public schools. The drop-out rate among minorities is actually higher.** This dismal record is despite the preferential treatment that charter schools' receive: subsidies above and beyond the budgets of counterpart public schools; the cherry-picking of students that excludes many of those with chronic learning and/or discipline problems and/or from non-English speaking families; etc.

More:

The distressing truth of the matter is that, in most states, any group of guys able to present what looks like a "sound business plan" can obtain a certificate to set up a charter school. The most worrying phenomenon is the manipulation of charter school curriculum to serve the ideological interests of the groups that run them. In Texas, Indiana, Ohio and other states, "creationism" and related Bible based 'science' has replaced standard approaches. (Slate Jan 16) A Right- wing interpretation of American history that, among other things, casts the New Deal as the workings of "un-American" spirit in the land is becoming commonplace. The businessman's view as to government's role in regulation also is gaining authority and prominence. In short, the charter school way is entrenching the ideas and attitudes of a sectarian element in American society whose ascendance already has wrought enormous damage. That a Democratic president should be the agent of this transformation is a telling commentary on where this White House and those who back him to the bitter end have gone wrong.

And I really do agree with this part:

Of all the institutions that made the United States into a coherent society, none made a greater contribution than our public schools. It was they that fashioned a loyal citizenry bound by a core of civic values and a collective identity -- regardless of creed, national origin, religion or political preference. It was they that molded a disparate population into a unified nation. That may not be the case in the future.