Perry For No Child Left Behind Before He Was Against It

Do these people running for President think we are just stupid?  They think they can just spout off any nonsense they want and we will believe then and follow them like sheep.  Case in point.  At the Faux News-Google Tea Party Debate, our beloved Gov said “I was also vocal against No Child Left Behind. It gets back to the federal government has no business telling the states how to educate our children.”

Okie Dokie.  Sounds good, the Teabaggers love it.  One itsy bitsy problem, in 2002, The Gov loved No Child Left Behind, even issuing a Press Release on his Official State of Texas Governor’s web site.

Friday, July 26, 2002  •  Press Release

 HOUSTON – Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige announced today that Texas’ No Child Left Behind implementation plan has received federal approval. The approval clears the way for almost $400 million in new federal funding, moving the governor’s education plan a step closer to the classroom.

“Texas was a model for President Bush’s No Child Left Behind legislation, and we continue to lead the nation “in innovative solutions to improve our schools”, Perry said. “The U.S. Department of Education’s stamp of approval means we can move forward with our plan to improve early childhood education, dropout prevention, teaching excellence, science education and our schools’ use of technology.”

The Texas Education Agency submitted the state’s No Child Left Behind implementation plan to the U.S. Department of Education last month. The plan includes funding to help local school districts implement Perry’s blueprint to continue improvements in Texas schools.

So The Gov champions taking $400,000,000 from the nasty Federal Government and then brags that Texas will “lead the nation in innovative solutions to improve our schools.”

Did it happen?  Nope!

According to the Center for Public Policy Priorities,  since taking $400 million in new federal funding, Texas now ranks 3rd from the bottom for High School Drop Outs.  Who is worse than Texas?  Only Arizona and Nevada.

How much of the “$400 million in new federal funding” went to promoting “Innovative solutions to improve our schools” or creationist quasi religious anti-science programs we will probably never know.  But what has been the result of these so called “Innovative solutions to improve our schools”?  You be the judge:

  • Texas has one of the highest dropout rates in the nation
  • The National Kids Count Project estimates that 13 percent of all Texas’ 16-19 year olds are not enrolled in school and not high school graduates.
  • The poverty rate among high school dropouts is estimated at 31 percent — 10 times that of college graduates.
  • One report states that 89% percent of Texas prison inmates did not complete high school.
  • Texas has the nation’s fourth highest adult incarceration rate.

So what does this tell us?  Texas does not invest in its children.  Texas takes the cheap route with the end result of a significant drag on its own economy.

Instead of investing, yeah I know that’s a dirty word to the Teabaggers, in our children we end up with huge spending on prisons and poverty.

This is only a glimpse of what is to come if Texas were to secede.  Remember folks,  these Teabaggers that want secession also want to end Public Education.  Every one of the GOP Presidential Candidates wants to abolish the Department of Education. People of Texas need to wake up and realize that not all government spending is bad.  Investing in our youth only benefits us.  Educated, productive citizens only help the economy of Texas while the inverse has only a negative result.

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