Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

Connecticut has once again been by-passed among states aspiring to win a share of the billions (from the stimulus package) available in Race To The Top. Don’t cry. Connecticut may be better off than the winners, though it could have used some of that money in the unfunded Connecticut pension plans (if miracles were possible). Why, one may wonder, is the U.S. Department of Education (ED) so keen to have the Local Education Agencies and teachers’ unions promise their full cooperation? When the ED lays out its mandates, winning states will be in no position to object, in the event that the mandate would not be their preference. They will have to go along. We remember President Obama’s saying (perhaps when he was a candidate) that the government should have a hand in the education of infants and children from ages zero to five. Already, ED has made its presence felt, even among the non-winning states. Connecticut was prepared to set up an Office of the Race to the Top, to carry out its...

In 1983, we were warned that we were “A Nation at Risk. Our once unchallenged preeminence in commerce, industry, science, and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors throughout the world.” When the Governors met in 1989, they resolved that they would combat the “rising tide of mediocrity” by our being first internationally in math and science by 2000. Many ways to improve student learning have been tried: smaller class size, smaller pupil-teacher ratios, increased teacher experience, increased teacher graduate degrees, and programs galore. Nothing has worked. “What was unimaginable a generation ago, has begun to occur—others are matching and surpassing our educational attainments,” the Governors were warned. Since the Governors’ 1989 conference, the focus has been on improving teacher effectiveness as the “only viable way to accomplish the governors’ goals. But how? Teacher hiring and retraining have not worked, in that they have not improved student achievemen...

Learning in K-12 is not improving. Announced last week are the latest NAEP reading scores for 4th grade--they remain unchanged—and for the 8th grade—up only one point in a year. For both subjects, scores are up only 4 points since 1992. The scores are bad news for the long-term growth of our economy. Learning is not going up but spending is. Education spending in the U.S. on K-12 has gone up from $375 per pupil to $9,305 between 1960 to 2005. It has been established for decades that more money does not mean more learning. More money is also not the solution for poor-performing schools. In the Kansas City District, judicial mandates forced Missouri state taxpayers to finance the schools well above the national average. There were Olympic-size swimming pools, Montessori schools, and performing arts schools to attract students from the suburbs. But in ten years enrollment was down by half as 18,000 students dropped out for charter schools and the suburbs. The buildings are half em...

The Sirkins, who have written about public education in Connecticut, point us in the right direction and review a book edited by the masterful Eric A. Hanushek PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE COURTS By Gerald and Natalie Sirkin Thinking Americans have become keenly aware during the past 30 years of two public entities which, by their bungling, are doing great damage to society. One is the public school system. The other is the arrogant, intrusive judiciary. Separately, each is capable of inflicting serious harm. Combined, their power for injury is greatly magnified. We are only just becoming conscious that the public schools and the courts have joined hands. Excellent essays concerning legal proceedings on school financing are collected in Courting Failure, How School Finance Lawsuits Exploit Judges’ Good Intentions and Harm Our Children, edited by Eric A. Hanushek (Stanford, Cal.: Hoover Institution Press, Education Next Books, 2006, pp. 367, $25, paperback $15). Interested parties i...