Continuing to Unravel the Fed’s Control of Education
Giving Education back to the States
By Christian Schwab
Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY) of the Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee introduced H. J. Res. 58. This gives states back the right to determine what preparations teachers need to be eligible to teach within their perspective borders. The rule finalized October 2016 leaves teachers and States under the control of the Department of Education.
The Obama administration and the Department of Education argued the intent was, “to ensure that teachers were properly prepared when they go into the classroom”. Republicans have always maintained it was a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach for preparing teachers to educate students. In the classroom it would make it harder for state and local governments to ensure teachers can be successful.
Opinions differ from them when the question of “keep the rule or repeal it” is set to the public:
- Republicans like Simon say to “Deregulate teachers, reward them by parent and teacher reviews”.
- How about the mother of 2 who wanted to remain anonymous: “Personally, I think teaching our teachers to teach ONLY how to give standardized tests is a grave mistake. Our children are becoming less and less informed about the world around them because of it.”
- Or Tiffany: “Give teachers the power to teach. Not all students learn the same way. Principals and parents will know when a teacher is not doing their job.” Democrats, on the other hand, stayed in unison instead of debating the question. Not giving any kind of a justifiable reason to keep it except: “They are trying dismantling everything Obama did.”
As schools and states struggle to overcome a trend of American students lagging behind the rest of the civilized world, should teacher’s preparation be linked to eligibility for federal grants?
Rep.Guthrie (R-KY) argued in a press release…
“Teachers play a vital role in helping students learn and succeed, both in and out of the classroom. Unfortunately, as it did so often, the Obama administration acted unilaterally, overreached, and took a one-size-fits-all approach to how teachers are prepared for the classroom.
As a result, the rules finalized by the Department of Education ignore the principles guiding recent bipartisan education reforms and would actually make it more difficult for state and local leaders to help ensure teachers are ready to succeed. This resolution will roll back those misguided rules and give us the opportunity to examine teacher preparation in the context of higher education reauthorization.”
The bill has 4 co-sponsors as of February 3rd 2017.
Rep. Foxx, Virginia [R-NC-5]
Rep. Sessions, Pete [R-TX-32)
Rep. Roe, David P. [R-TN-1]
Rep. Byrne, Bradley [R-AL-1]
