PASBO says No Child Left Behind goal by 2014 not attainable
Review Photo/ERIC HRIN Canton Area School Board members Jared Wilcox, left, and Harold Hopkins attend the school board's work session this week. On the right is elementary principal John Rimmer.
Review Photo/ERIC HRIN Canton Area School Board members Jared Wilcox, left, and Harold Hopkins attend the school board's work session this week. On the right is elementary principal John Rimmer.
CANTON - A document from the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials (PASBO) says that the federal No Child Left Behind Act's goal of 100 percent proficiency in reading and mathematics by 2014 is "unattainable even under perfect circumstances."
To drive the point home, "unattainable even under perfect circumstances" is underlined in the text.
But "perfect circumstances" is hardly the way to describe the current educational funding situation. A Times-Tribune story reported that, in total, the governor's budget does away with $1.5 billion in total education funding.
In the Canton Area School District this week, district superintendent Matt Gordon told the school board about the PASBO conclusion on the NCLB goal at a work session focusing on the budget. The statement is included in PASBO's "500 Cost Reduction Strategies for Local Education Agencies," which is listed on its website.
During the meeting, Gordon told those attending that the conclusion was "ironic." He said that he thought the teachers would appreciate it.
Gordon made it clear that the conclusion wasn't a surprise to him.
"It was labeled as being utopian," board member Jared Wilcox