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"Scam" ads the norm Trail Mix: Hillary haters spam cyberspace Gunning for the center Democrats make Hillary legit The blundering pundit Don Giuliani Campaign video: |
Bush's answer: Send teachers, books and money | page 1, 2, 3 How many kids would need "Reading First"? Well, um -- La Montagne did the math for us: There are 8.2 million kids in K-1, and 20 percent of them are in poverty, so that's 1.64 million kids. And then, applying a figure from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) that showed 58 percent of the poorest fourth-graders unable to read at the basic level, 58 percent of 1.64 million is, like, 950,000, and when you figure that it's about $38 to educate a kid per day, and this program would be "summer school-like" and take maybe 30 days ($1,140 per kid) -- voilą! "Just over a billion." When asked if Bush's commitment to "Reading First" would continue even if the numbers of kids needing help were higher, La Montagne said, "Certainly."
But the centerpiece of Bush's education message is not so much what he plans to do, but what he has done. La Montagne and Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes repeatedly lauded their boss's record; fact sheets distributed to reporters bragged that under "Bush, the number of students passing all parts of the state skills test (TAAS) has increased by 40 percent, and the number of minorities passing all parts of the TAAS has increased by 81 percent." A Republican National Committee fax sent out Tuesday quoted a Time magazine story as reporting that "public schools in Texas have improved dramatically on Bush's watch ... Black and Latino children have made galloping gains in math and reading scores during his years in office, narrowing the achievement gap that bedevils schools systems around the country." But not surprisingly, there was a lot in the Time story the RNC left out. "If Gore throws money at the problem without demanding accountability," Time's Eric Pooley wrote, "Bush demands accountability without throwing enough money ... Bush offers no money for teacher training, school construction, class-size reduction or preschool. And his plan is silent on boosting teacher quality -- a baffling lapse, since it is the most important factor in a child's education. Bush also would do nothing to help supply the 2.2 million new teachers needed in the next 10 years." Wilkins says she and the other members of the Education Trust appreciate Bush's work "based on what he's done in Texas." However, she says, "this is not to say that we agree with him down the line" -- especially on his plans for the future. Bush's pro-voucher proposals are "nonsense," she says, as is the centerpiece of Bush's education plan: a $5.5 billion education tax credit -- which would increase the allowable annual contribution to education savings accounts from $500 per student to $5,000, and allow parents to withdraw funds tax-free to pay for expenses for kindergarten through college -- that she deems "craziness." But, when it comes down to it, Wilkins says, Bush has been a strong proponent of accountability, where Clinton and Gore have been weak. "The Clinton administration should wish it had a record on education as good as what Bush has to show in Texas." But Gore wants to poke holes in this record. Standing outside Sallie Mae, a Gore for President employee handed reporters a Baltimore Sun story that questioned Bush's past, rather than the proposals for the future. While Texas students are scoring higher on the TAAS than ever before, the Sun story stated, they are not doing so on the SAT and other national tests. And while Bush heralds minority students' performance under his watch, Texas' rankings on the NAEP -- the respected nationwide exam La Montagne used to calculate the $5 billion figure -- indicated that the gap between minority and white students on some subjects actually grew.
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