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These articles reflect the opinion of the author and are not endorsed by the Greater Milwaukee Green Party.

“Changing of the Guard” doesn’t alter NCLB goals
By Daniel Pryzbyla
(Published in educationnews.org commentary January 28, 2005)

First initiated by Henry VII (1485-1509), the “household troops” guarded the Sovereign Palaces in London. In 1689 their main residence moved to St. James Palace. Later in 1837 when Queen Victoria moved into Buckingham Palace, a detachment was sent to stand guard, just as they do today.

Now, the Palace is a working building and the centerpiece of Britain’s constitutional monarchy. The 45-minute Changing of the Guard ceremony takes place in the forecourt of the Palace every day in summer and every other day in the winter (except Sundays). Part of the Old Guard marches from St. James Palace to Buckingham Palace at 11:15 am and returns at 12:05 pm. It houses the offices of those who support the day-to-day activities and duties of The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh and their immediate family. The Palace is also the scene for great Royal ceremonies, state visits and inaugurations, all organized by the Royal Household.

Until 2002, there was no public disclosure of Buckingham Palace costs. Previously, according to the Guardian newspaper in London, the Queen’s spending as head of state was merely given to parliament every 10 years when the amount of public funding is reviewed. In 2002, running just the Queen’s household in today’s exchange rate would have cost British taxpayers $15,308,488 out of the total monarchy expenditures of $66,252,947. Henry VII annual fossil kingdom expenditures don’t come cheap.

Unlike several President Bush’s second term “changing of the guard” in departments knee deep in War in Iraq issues, his new U.S. Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings went unscathed. Other than demanding she follows up on the department’s investigation of its $240,000 payola to Republican columnist Armstrong Williams to promote the No Child Left Behind education act, Bush’s chief domestic policy aide was given swift approval. For political purposes, any department “changing of the guard” by a president in second term is going to follow lock step and wear the same “red tunics and bearskins” too. Don’t expect Spellings to toss her red tunic aside. 

“President Bush’s choice as Secretary of Education may not have a widely recognized name, but Margaret Spellings brings qualification to the job that few others can boast,” reported Anne McGrath of News and World Report on November 29, 2004. “She has his trust, a decade-long history of shaping his education policies, and an intimate understanding of the one that tops his agenda – the No Child Left Behind act.” Oh, yes indeed, she has an “intimate” understanding of NCLB. This reminder was pointed out in the eSchool News - January 21, 2005. “As a member of Bush’s staff when he was governor of Texas (1995-2000), she helped him formulate a state education policy that later became the backbone of the national NCLB act.” Spellings, 46, has a long association with President Bush, having served as his senior adviser while he was governor. She is a 1979 graduate of the University of Houston and was assoc! iate executive director of the Texas Association of School Boards before joining Bush’s gubernatorial campaign, reported eSchool News.

Secretary Roderick Paige, her predecessor, came riding into Washington D.C. in January 2001 wearing the “Texas Miracle” education button on his lapel. The $275,000 superintendent of the Houston Independent school district since 1994 was President George W. Bush’s shining education czar. “During his tenure (at HISD), Paige formed a political alliance with Texas Gov. Bush, who became an ardent advocate of accountability and high-stakes testing,” reported Michael Dobbs in the November 8, 2003 Washington Post. “After Bush was elected president, Paige’s ideas became the inspiration for the administration’s No Child Left Behind education plan, aimed at raising educational standards nationwide. Schools now face penalties for failing to show improvement in such things as dropout rates and reading scores.” But by this time, under closer inspection from even RAND, the “Texas Miracle” high-test scores and ! ridiculously low dropout rates had crashed like a falling star. The emperor had no clothes.

Challenging TAAS (Texas Assessment of Academic Skills) testing scores, Educationnews.org senior editorial writer George Scott commented, “The nation should understand it cannot fully appreciate the premeditated academic corruption of TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) that will unfold without first understanding the retroactive corruption of TASS. How did Texas pull off the miracle? And, is this where the nation really wants to go?” The Texas Education Agency initiated TAKS as the new replacement tests for the now defunct TAAS. Responding to the new tests, Bush education advisor Spellings (at that time her last name was LaMontagne) observed, “We’ve maxed out on TASS.” The Washington Post article quoted Linda McNeil, a professor of education at Houston’s Rice University, “It is all phony; it’s just like Enron.” This was in reference to the bankrupt Houston-based energy services compa! ny that boosted its stock price by covering up losses. “Enron was concerned about appearances, not real economic results. That pretty much describes what we have been doing to our children in Houston.”

In her acceptance speech for the education post, Spellings – praising her state’s Texans that had been at the president’s side for many years – said in part, “One of those great Texans is, of course, Secretary Rod Paige, who distinguished himself as an educator and has served admirably as your Secretary of Education. He has laid the foundation for leaving no child – leaving no child behind, and I pledge to honor his lifelong commitment to children by continuing the good work he started.” In the previous News and World Report article, Sandy Kress, an Austin attorney who has known Spellings since 1991 affirmed her support for Paige and NCLB, saying, “She is absolutely intent on changing the system. And she’s got unparalleled experience in getting buy-in.” It would be a good idea she reminds her lawyer friend that “buy-in” is not the best supportive term to use at this time and place. Besides payol! a to Armstrong Williams, the “good work he (Paige) started” also includes NCLB seeking more privatization schemes from the public education’s taxpayers’ till.

Charter, religious, private and non-profit education groups and organizations supporting privatization have been monetarily blessed thus far by President Bush’s department heads, including Secretary Paige. Some of these organizations seeking and receiving taxpayer funding have minimal oversight, unlike aggressive and hostile measures imposed by the Bush administration on public sector endeavors.

While President Bush has been gutting necessary public education programs, the omnibus fiscal 2005 spending bill adopted last November by Congress included $9.7 million for a “school improvement program” run by the Education Leaders Council called – why, of course – Following the Leaders. The additional funding increased their total funding to $32.7 million since 2001. Education Week newspaper January 12, 2005 ran a front-page story on this well known and legendary education project. What? You’ve never heard of it (them)? No need to feel left out. “To date, the program has not produced any evaluations to show whether it’s effective in the 600 schools in 11 states that have signed up to use it,” reported Allan Richard. It gets worse. “Critics of the program, including several nationally known education leaders, claim that the Education Leaders Council ! (ELC) has not been able to account for all the federal money spent on the program.” Federal support for Following the Leaders, the major work of ELC, began 3 years ago when Secretary Paige awarded discretionary funds to the project.

Educators Leaders Council was created “during a meeting” held in Burlington, VT in July 1995. Its web site boasts, “We’ve been on the leading edge of the education reform movement since our inception – and we’re staying there.” Some of the 8 conservative, more recognized founding members included Tom Ridge, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Eugene Hickok, U.S. Department of Education; Lisa Graham Keegan; CEO, Educators Leaders Council (serving as State Superintendent of Education in Arizona); and Abigail Thernstrom, Massachusetts State Board of Education. “The program,” wrote Richard, “was designed to devise ways of helping schools meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind law.” Two companies have contracts to provide services to schools enrolled in Follow the Leaders: Achievement Technologies, Inc. based in Newton, Mass., and The Princeton Review, based in New York City. Last fall, ! according to Education Week, ELC merged with Accountability Works, a Washington-based non-profit group headed by Theodore Rebarber who then became the CEO of Educators Leaders Council in September 2004.

This so-called “school improvement program” and its hodgepodge leadership needs an investigation by Skillings for program evaluation and where the $23 million in taxpayer funding was spent since 2001. If not, the NCLB “changing of the guard” retains its original goals, and another $9.7 million will be wasted on more unaccountable privatization schemes. 

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