This post was co-authored by Jane Robbins, an attorney and senior fellow at the American Principles Project.
Congressional leadership has decided to ignore grassroots Americans yet again and give President Obama an education bill he’ll accept. Among the numerous reasons parents are dismayed by this news is that the “compromise” bill will expand federal involvement with preschool programs. Many parents instinctively reject the idea of sending their toddlers off to a government school, and the bulk of research validates their concerns. Why do Congress and the behemoth U.S. education establishment ignore the research and push expanded government control over the lives of our little ones?
And will any presidential candidates call them out on it?
The law under review, currently known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB), is long overdue for an update. But because both the House-passed bill and especially its Senate counterpart significantly increase the unconstitutional federal footprint in education, including preschool, over 200 grassroots citizen groups and experts in 46 states oppose the melding of the two bills into something bad enough for the President to sign. And make no mistake – if this President finds it acceptable, it will by definition be bad.
What’s the bad part about expanded preschool? The Senate bill provides for preschool alignment grants and requires the grant-funded programs to align to the early-childhood standards in Head Start. Head Start requires not only every Head Start program, but also every other state pre-k program, to fully align to the Head Start Child Outcome Framework, a set of national early-childhood standards that is being correlated to Common Core. Continue Reading