Republican Ed Agenda? Nope. Dems.

Andy sits on the board of DFER

The Republican agenda for 2008?

We support policies which stimulate the creation of new, accountable public schools and which simultaneously close down failing schools.

We support mechanisms that allow parents to select excellent schools for their children, and where education dollars follow each child to their school.

We support governance structures which hold leaders responsible, while giving them the tools to effectuate change. We believe in empowering mayor’s to lead urban school districts, so that they can be held accountable by the electorate.

We support policies that allow school principals and their school communities to select their teams of educators, holding them accountable for student performance but allowing them flexibility to exercise sound, professional judgment.

We support clearly-articulated national standards and expectations for core subject areas, while allowing states and local districts to determine how best to make sure that all students are reaching those standards.

So let’s see:
Punishing and closing public schools, disbanding collective bargaining rights (that’s the part about administrators choosing their team), mayoral control (that has worked so well in NY and Chicago), national testing standards, vouchers and charters (that’s the part of dollars following students).

Nope. These are Dems. This is the agenda for Democrats for Education Reform. Can’t tell a player without a scorecard. Can’t understand a talking point without a translator.

Would you be surprised to find Andy Rotherham on their board?