When GW Bush first introduced No Child Left Behind, I supported the idea. It sounded sensible, and the statistical evidence he presented from his implementation of that program as Governor of Texas certainly appeared to demonstrate that the program was working well there. I did not realize what Bush and his minions were doing to students in Texas to get those statistics. It seems nothing has changed there.
Former El Paso Independent School District Superintendent Lorenzo García, who pleaded guilty on Wednesday to federal corruption charges, conspired with six district employees to manipulate student testing and raise federal accountability performance, according to federal charges.
García, 57, who bragged about boosting test scores in the district, is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 14 after pleading guilty to cheating on state-mandated tests and for steering a $450,000 no-bid contract to one of his two mistresses.
The six people who helped carry out García’s scheme to inflate test scores at district schools have not been identified.
Asked if those people would be charged with crimes, the FBI and federal prosecutors said the investigation is still ongoing… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <El Paso Times>
Don’t you just love those Republican family values?
The way that Garcia was cheating to boost test scores was to push low performing students out of the public school system, thereby abandoning those who were most in need. We shouldn’t be surprised. It’s standard Republican policy to abandon the most needy of our citizens. Furthermore, he learned from a master, because that’s how Crawford Caligula produced artificially high test scores when he was Governor. It’s to bad they weren’t investigating and prosecuting that then.
We need a balanced approach to investing in all America’s students to build a work force prepared for the future, and that’s what Obama and the Democratic Party offer. Lord Willard and the Republican Party, on the other hand, want to privatize education to make the poor and middle classes pay for students at rich private and pseudo-Christian religious schools, while cutting education funding to give tax cuts to billionaires. Which approach do you prefer?
12 Responses to “Republican Convicted of Fraud”
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No bid contracts, sounds familiar…
Republicans love them,
Typical Texas Republican Tactics as usual.
Welcome John! 🙂
You sure have that right!
It is absolutely disgusting ; Privatization of education will destroy the concept that helped make this country great , the principle of public education for all–
This country has been falling behind for many years– seems this Texas shenanigan may be a part of the problem—Certainly in Texas–
I agree Phyllis. M<ch attention is needed.
My sister taught 2nd and 3rd grades for 27 years. She retired last year because she could not stand the conditions imposed by "no chld left behind". She was not allowed to be a teacher after that came into effect. She had to teach to meet the requirements of the test every year. No creativity was allowed, just rote for what was on the test. And, yes, those who were most at risk were quickly booted into an area that would not be tested. We have two generations of kids who have not been given the right to an education. We will all pay for it.
Edie, I wish I had not heard that same story from so many places.
When it comes to students, and indeed adult employees, a good comprehensive education is the foundation for today and for tomorrow, and the day after that!
One of the many things that I am trained in is employment counselling. Too often I hear reports of employers saying there is nobody with the skills they need so they have to go outside the country to hire skilled workers. Why is that? Is the education system so antiquated that it doesn't know its ass from a whole in the ground?
There needs to be some planning between schools and employers to develop skill sets that employers need. There needs to be a school system that gets its head out of the politician's ass and thinks about what is best for students. And there needs to be forward thinking and adaptable systems so that as education requirements change, the education system can change too. I'll use an example that I read about a while back. As I understand it, Rick Perry is on record as saying that skills like critical thinking are not to be taught in Texas schools. (Please correct me if I am mistaken) That is a prime skill set, and a universal one at that. Sciences, math, reading, language are all critical subjects, but so are computer courses, critical thinking etc. Religion is not critical. It can be taught at Sunday School, and at home.
This conviction just goes to show how misguided Republican/Teabaggers are when it comes to education. For them, it's all about building your millions so that you can pass it down to your kids when you're gone. Then the kids will exploit others and build more millions. And so on . . . and so on . . . and so on . . .
I agree.
I used to manage part of a private employment agency (Admin/Eng/EDP) in the early 1970s. Even then, that was true.
Amen!
Bingo!
"We shouldn’t be surprised. It’s standard Republican policy to abandon the most needy of our citizens."
Sad, but true.
If I'm not mistaken, this happened in Atlanta, Georgia last year too.
I cannot verify that off the top of my head, but I sure wouldn't bet against it.