It was President George W.
Bush who began the federal intervention of education when he implemented the
legislation known as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2002. The aim of NCLB
was to standardize testing in all 50 states. It required 100% student
competency targets. By threatening funding to the 50 states, the NCLB began the
intervention of the federal government in education in a major way.
President Barack Obama
continued and increased even more the intervention of federal government in
education in the 50 states. After all, the president had to include educational
institutions in his plan to fundamentally transform our nation. Obama
implemented the Race-to-the-Top (RTTT) in 2009. This was a multi-billion dollar
program that put pressure or bribed or blackmailed the states to adopt policies
that included test-based teacher evaluation and a nationwide standards and curriculum.
The new national curriculum and standards is called the Common Core State
Standards (CCSS).
In Florida, Governor
Charlie Crist, without any discussion, agreed to the CCSS, even before the
standards were written. In order to develop the CCSS and create incentives or
bribes for the states to adopt it, $4.35 billion dollars from the Stimulus
package were used for this purpose. No Child Left Behind waivers were granted
to states for agreeing to adopt the CCSS. Multimillion grants were awarded by
the Obama administration to states for the implementation of the CCSS. Upon the
suggestion of former Governor Jeb Bush, Governor Rick Scott hired Tony Bennett
as Florida´s Commissioner of Education. Tony Bennett had lost his job as
Indiana´s Education Superintendent due to his strong support of Common Core.
Grass roots activists and conservative organizations opposed the Common Core
and denounced Bennett and he lost his reelection. Tony Bennett was forced to
resign his job in Florida due to an scandal regarding his intervention in the
change of the letter grade received by a charter school in Indiana owned by a
Republican major donor.
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