"Waivers" Are Fine...Back-Door Legislating Via "Strings"? Not So Much
by Frederick M. Hess • Jun 14, 2011 at 9:04 am
Cross-posted from Education Week
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ShareThere seems to be some confusion about the problem with our earnest Secretary of Education's chest-thumping promise to take things into his own hands if Congress doesn't fix NCLB by August. The problem is not that he's pledging to waive some of the law's goofy provisions. No one is disputing that he's empowered to do so (see, for instance, Mike Petrilli's take here).
So, what is the problem? It's that Duncan has said that he plans to attach "strings" to those waivers, so that states will have to adopt his priorities in order to gain flexibility. He has clearly signaled that he regards this as a back-door opportunity to promote his preferred approach to teacher evaluation, the Common Core, and such with or without Congressional permission. This is what has so infuriated observers (see Alexander Russo's roundup here).
Duncan wrote yesterday in POLITICO, that, "Our children get only one shot at an education. They cannot wait