From: curt@aixwiz.austin.ibm.com (Curt Finch/131072)
Newsgroups: tx.politics
Subject: Education Reform is DEAD...
Date: 17 Dec 92 14:20:25 GMT
Reply-To: curt@aixwiz.austin.ibm.com (Curt Finch/131072)
Distribution: tx
Organization: IBM AWD, Austin, TX

Reply-To: Daily Report Card News Service <RPTCRD%GWUVM.BITNET@pucc.Princeton.EDU>
From: DRC%GWUVM.BITNET@pucc.Princeton.EDU
Subject:      DAILY REPORT CARD
To: Multiple recipients of list RPTCRD <RPTCRD%GWUVM.BITNET@pucc.Princeton.EDU>

  --- Wednesday --- December 16, 1992 --- Vol. 2 --- No. 134 ---

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         THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION GOALS
  An APN publication, supported by The Annie E. Casey Foundation

                                   __________         __________
                                  |          SPOTLIGHT          |
                                  |                             |
                                  |  CONUNDRUMS AND QUANDARIES  |
                                  |                             |
                                  |   Chester Finn rails        |
                                  | against the "education      |
                                  | empire" in an op-ed.  Finn  |
                                  | says vast armies were sent  |
                                  | to the electoral trenches   |
                                  | to defeat true reform and   |
                                  | its leaders -- and won.     |
                                  | (#8)                        |
                                  |                             |
                                  |   Clinton will be           |
                                  | challenged to effect real   |
                                  | change, writes Finn,        |
                                  | because of teacher unions'  |
                                  | claims of influence over    |
                                  | him.  Can Clinton achieve   |
                                  | change while beholden to    |
                                  | unions?  Are all unions     |
                                  | scouts of the status quo?   |
                                  |                             |
                                  |   Privatization, alive and  |
                                  | well in Miami, Baltimore    |
                                  | and Chelsea is a "real      |
                                  | threat" to the empire, Finn |
                                  | adds.                       |
                                  |                             |
                                  |   Does privatizing public   |
                                  | schools work?  Some in      |
                                  | Chelsea say no. (#2)        |
                                  |                             |
                                  |_____________________________|

 _______________________________________________________________
|       (c) 1992 by the American Political Network, Inc.        |
|    282 N. Washington St., Falls Church, VA  (703) 237-5130    |
|     APN, Inc. hereby authorizes further reproduction and      |
|           distribution with proper acknowledgment.            |
|                 Publisher:  Barbara A. Pape                   |
|                    Editor:  Richard R. Hough                  |
|           Managing Editor:  Angela R. Heffernan               |
|       Senior Staff Writer:  Sarita M. Wilson-Broughton        |
|  Editorial Assistants:  Daniel B. Conkright, Cecilia Serrano  |
|_______________________________________________________________|

        ==============  TABLE OF CONTENTS  ==============


EDUCATION '92
  EDUCATION'S DARTH VADER:  Teacher union and allies. (#8)

The DAILY REPORT CARD has openings for two entry-level staff
writers.  Applicants should be strong writers with an interest in
education who can work under a deadline.  The REPORT CARD also
will accept applications for internships.  Please send cover
letters and resumes to the DRC at 282 N. Washington St., Falls
Church, VA  22046.  Applicants may also contact Rick Hough or
Angela Heffernan at (703) 237-5130.

                   =====  EDUCATION '92  =====

*8   EDUCATION'S DARTH VADER:  TEACHER UNION AND ALLIES
     Election 1992 produced major setbacks for education reform,
Chester Finn writes in a W.S. JOURNAL op-ed.  The Clinton-Gore
victory was not the only disappointment for reformers.  Finn
writes that several state and local initiatives, including the
defeat of a statewide school voucher program in Colo., also were
"blow[s]."
     Finn blames the "education empire," made up of teachers
unions and their allies, for the initiatives' defeat.  The
education establishment had been "plenty vex[ed]" by education
reform's shift in emphasis from resources to results following
the publication of "A Nation At Risk," according to Finn.  And
their ire was further raised by the nation's focus on national
goals, standards and tests, and the emergence of alternative
certification and charter schools.
     These new ideas encourage competition and comparisons, both
of which "alarmed" the education establishment, whose "power base
[is] in local school boards and collective bargaining
agreements," according to Finn.  But he adds that privatization
and school choice pose the "greatest threats" to the
establishment, for whom Finn writes that four more years of the
"George Bush crowd fanning these flames" may have been too much.
     He writes that although Clinton's "school reform instincts
appeared sound ... so heavily is Mr. Clinton in thrall to the
teacher unions that their leaders are boasting of the influence
they'll wield."  The "education empire" plans to:  Stop the
privatization-and-choice movement before it spreads; promote
standards that really aren't; frustrate the creation of serious
means testing; revive the emphasis on resources; and not
seriously analyze liberal proposals for ed reform, while
"dissecting" others.
     Finn predicts that "someday, education's consumers may yet
prevail," because they control the purse strings.  "But the 1992
election was a blow to education reform that will not easily be
parried," he concludes (12/16).


--
curt@aixwiz.austin.ibm.com (Curt L. Finch) | AIX NFS/NIS Field Quality 
My views are unrelated to those of IBM     |       Austin, TX
 - Begin means testing of Social Security, Medicare and Farm Subsidies now. -