Sunday, June 26, 2011

Not so fast, Secretary Duncan, says Rep. Kline

In the latest round of "Whose Constitutional Power Is It, Anyway?" Representative John Kline (Chair of the House education committee) has sharply criticized Secretary Duncan's plans to offer waivers on No Child Left Behind, but only in return for wholesale adoption of Race to the Top-type goals and measures.
“He’s not the nation’s superintendent,” Mr. Kline said of Mr. Duncan, who assumed powers greater than any of his predecessors when, in 2009, Congress voted $100 billion in economic stimulus money for the nation’s school systems and allowed the secretary to decide how much of it should be spent.  
“Unquestionably, Congress gave the secretary way too much authority in the stimulus bill when it said, ‘Here’s $5 billion, go do good things for education,’ ” Mr. Kline said.
Kline has requested that Duncan get back to him by Monday with an explanation as to his legal authority to offer waivers under such conditions. 

1 comment:

Jim Gonyea said...

I would also be curious as to what authority Duncan has to offer waivers. One man ramrodding his flawed theories on education on the education system of the nation. One man who isn't even elected.