The Battle Over the Reauthorization of NCLB and 2016 Presidential Politics.
Hours after the November election talking heads began musing: why did the Democratic voters abandon the party? A large chunk of the Democratic voters are teachers, the heart and core of the party and living in each and every congressional district. The Duncan-Obama policies have angered and alienated teachers for years; however, a Democratic strategist told me, “Where are teachers going to go? Not the Republicans.” He was wrong, they had someplace else to go, they could stay home.
The progressive wing of the Democratic Party leads the education reform movement; Arne Duncan became the archangel, the spear carrier of the federal assault on public schools, parents and teachers. Annual high-stakes testing, punitive teacher evaluation and Duncan’s cheering the Vergara decision to strip teachers of tenure, all from the Obama administration playbook.
2014 was a Democratic disaster, record low turnouts and teachers staying home or voting for a third party.
Across the nation there is a cyber-revolution, blogs and tweets and Facebook pages reach millions of readers, teachers and public school parents. Long Island Opt Out (See Facebook page) has over 20,000 members, the Network for Public Education (NPE) has over two hundred bloggers who spin out post after post and tweet after tweet. What is so fascinating is this cyber-revolution was not organized by teacher unions; it is truly a grassroots movement, blog by blog, tweet by tweet.
Education moved from the back burner to become the darling of the progressives and the reaction, the pushback, has grown from an annoyance to a tsunami.
Millions of angry teachers and parents, locally organized on cyber platforms: where will they go in 2016?
Suddenly the long simmering reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has major political implications.
Should the Republicans pass a bill that the president can sign, or, craft a bill that he is likely to veto?
Should the Democrats support Republican bills or urge the president to veto a The Battle Over the Reauthorization of NCLB and 2016 Presidential Politics. | Ed In The Apple: