By Ralph Schwartz
I came across two unrelated posts both reflecting on the state Republicans’ approach to K-12 education.
A piece by Peter Callaghan of the Tacoma News Tribune wonders where the Democrats, once champions of education, have gone? In his view, they have taken the defensive, while the GOP has become the party of ideas.
“It is difficult to find a Democrat in the Legislature who hasn’t instead embraced the rhetoric that all school reform is a right-wing attempt to privatize schools,” Callaghan writes.
(You guys should read Callaghan on Olympia stuff, as I’ve said in a previous post. He really knows his stuff, as opposed to some bloggers, who *cough-cough* fly by the seat of their rumpled thrift-store pants.)
In Crosscut, John Stang wrote that Democrats in the Senate are criticizing Republican education legislation for being the cookie-cutter output of conservative think tank the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC.
One bill would hold back third graders who can’t read well enough. The other would create an A-F grading system for schools.
(I can imagine the parent-child discussions: “What is going on with all these C’s on your report card?” — “Hey, at least I’m doing better than my school.”)
State Republicans deny the bills are products of ALEC. There is no evidence the sponsors, Bruce Dammeier, R-Puyallup (third-grade retention); and Steve Litzow, R-Mercer Island (A-F), are members of ALEC.
Notably, Doug Ericksen, a self-described member of ALEC, is not on the list of sponsors for either bill.
Could it be that these are just ideas that are in the ether, if you will, that some Republicans have latched onto? If they were hatched in the incubators at ALEC, does that condemn them outright?
Before condemning a bill based on its origin, might we not debate it on its merits?
The Crosscut piece describes ALEC as a secretive organization that doesn’t publicly name its members. I would question how secretive it really is. I asked Ericksen whether he was a member for a piece that ran Sunday on Occupy Bellingham. He paused for a moment, perhaps realizing the ALEC label came with a lot of baggage, but he did tell me he was.
The question was relevant because Occupy Bellingham is watching Ericksen especially closely, as it seeks to monitor and advocate against ALEC-inspired legislation.
What Ericksen said in response could be applied to the substance of the Crosscut piece, which said that Dems are jumping all over the Litzow and Dammeier bills because they smell like ALEC:
“The way they (Occupy) try to vilify organizations they don’t agree with, using bullying techniques, the misinformation they provide … (are) techniques used in politics to marginalize the opposition.”
“It’s not good for the public discourse.”
In other words, if a bill stinks, just vote “no.”
You’re being far too generous. There are whole sections of the school grading bill that are exactly duplicated in this bill, from Florida:
http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Handlers/LibraryViewerDocumentRetriever.ashx?statrevid=FS20121008.34&libroot=StatRevSiteLeaf&ViewFrom=StandAlone
If the idea is simply floating around in the ether, it’s certainly a well-organized one.
It helps that the bill is awful on its merits, too.
Union busting and school privatization make Republicans the “party of ideas” on education? The Republican Party hasn’t had a new idea about anything since Reagan’s first term, other than to continue drifting ever rightward. Seems to me that Callaghan is appeasing his Republican employers. One does need to please the boss, right Ralph?
As for the bill that would retain students in third grade, I challenge anyone to find one peer-reviewed study that concludes retention is beneficial for students. What you’ll find is a slew of research indicating that retention harms students almost universally over the long run. Want more drop outs? Try retaining them in third grade. But then again, these are Republicans we’re talking about, and their contempt for science is well known. What’s that Callaghan says about ignoring data?
Change for the sake of change is not necessarily a good thing, but Callaghan doesn’t seem to understand that. The WA GOP is the Party of BAD ideas.
– Of course Ericksen doesn’t deny being an ALEC member because he can’t. He’s on record as an ALEC member, going back a number of years. I believe it’s even been mentioned in the Herald.
– ALEC model legislation is bad legislation… at least it is bad for citizens.
– Here’s a little bit of what ALEC is really about:
I think this cartoon really explains it all: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXUPDAMc_6o
I for one am so happy that Reporter Callaghan of MacLatchkey renown
buys his trousers without regard to discount.
Surely that makes his opinions much more the valider
not to mention the astuteness of the observer
judging from outside the dressing room curtains.
Thank you, Steve Lydolph, for posting that link at the end of your informed comment.
(Both of them.)
Poetry, @rubie.
Indeed.