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As 2 Bushes Try to Fix Schools, Tools Differ |
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From New York Times: Jeb Bush of Florida has long played the dutiful younger brother. "I mean perfection is not going to happen," Mr. Bush said Sept. 12 at a news conference in Orlando, arguing that achievement targets are important but that unrealistic ones discourage educators. Well before President Bush signed his No Child Left Behind law, Jeb Bush poured his own ideas into a school improvement program for Florida. Over the years since, Governor Bush has mostly held his tongue about the president's very different law, even as detractors of all stripes have attacked it. But in recent weeks --- perhaps seeking to cement his legacy as a school-policy expert as he prepares to leave office --- Governor Bush has been speaking out about the federal law, mixing dollops of praise with measured criticisms --- and taking an occasional potshot. It is natural, of course, that the brothers might feel a bit of fraternal rivalry on this topic, because each built a political career --- George in Texas, Jeb in Florida --- around promises to improve their states' schools. No Child Left Behind and the Florida law, the A-Plus plan, differ in many ways. For one, the federal law grades schools pass-fail, while Florida's gives schools A to F grades. "Punitive actions don't work nearly as well," Governor Bush said in the interview. In criticizing No Child Left Behind, Governor Bush signaled disagreement with the position staked out by Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, who told reporters on Aug. 30, "There's not much needed in the way of change."
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