The other day Edu Commentary came to the defense of the beleaguered Bushies in the Department of Education about the charter school data arguing that they were guilty only of ineptness not nefariousness. Anyway, it’s still true on that issue, but this inordinate delay in releasing information about how Texas schools did under No Child Left Behind’s standards for “adequate yearly progress” (AYP) stinks of nefariousness. That’s in no small part because, conveniently enough, the delay in releasing the data will take us until right after the election in November.
Moreover, the state is making their school ratings (like many states Texas has state ratings and No Child Left Behind ones) available at the end of September so data on school performance do exist; it’s not like we’re waiting on a test the kids will take in October.
Four points to ponder:
*Will some enterprising souls, reporters perhaps, try to obtain and analyze the No Child data themselves?
*Will someone leak some of it? There must be a Democrat somewhere in the Texas Education Agency…
*Couldn’t this be another case of the cover-up is worse than the crime? This election will not turn on whether or not Texas schools made “adequate yearly progress” but it could well turn on whether or not President Bush’s administration can be trusted.
*Instead of lobbing cheap shots at charter schools, why isn’t the NYT looking at this? It’s a good chance to hit President Bush and, bonus, it’s factually accurate!
Isn’t this administration big on the idea of data and transparency? Release the records!
Update: Yoo hoo! NYT! Here’s another legit story.
Is there a way to become a content writer for the site?