In his ProJo letter, former teacher Fred Sculco of Westerly takes NEARI executive director Bob Walsh to task. He criticizes Mr. Walsh for refusing to sign on the state’s RTTT federal funding grant application. While I typically enjoy a fellow teacher’s challenge of the union’s leadership, the conclusion to Mr. Sculco’s letter left me speechless.
We desperately need access to $100 million in free federal funds.
Free federal funds? The money, of course, was taken from the states through federal income taxes. So it’s sophomoric to claim a return of these funds is “free” money.
But more frustrating is that Mr. Sculco appears oblivious to the federal mandates that will be attached to the grant funding. Local schools will be forced to cede more control to federal authorities, who know little about the communities and what their children need. These educrats believe their one-size-fits-all solutions will save public education everywhere. No Child Left Behind has done little to improve schools, and many leaders are already making its funeral arrangements. Yet these federal bureaucrats think their next idea will be the solution.
Requesting federal education funds is about as free as asking Don Corleone for a favor. Payback is very expensive.
March 8th, 2010 at 12:35 am
I could not disagree more with the premise that the federal government will demand local schools to cede more control. The real issue, which I am afraid Mike fails to comprehend, is that control will be removed from the unions which have stated that when students start paying union dues THEN they will care about students. The power will be vested with the State Commissioner of Education…a person with a vision of what student centered education looks like, not teacher centered education. I will take federal mandates that filter to the commissioner and, if Mike reads carefully, to teachers any day over the greed directed focus of teacher unions.