No Child Left Behind
One of the greatest disappointments with the Bush administration is the empty legislation of the enacted No Child Left Behind Act. The passed program was designed to require schools, teachers, students, and parents to achieve more than ever before. Some of the goals included that schools must have a qualified teacher in every classroom within four years. All children must make progress on reading and math achievement every year. All limited English proficient students must make progress on learning the English language and academics every year. Bush campaigned on this promise, to focus on the education of our children. However, when budget decisions were to be discussed, not only did Bush cut funding for schools, he also cut spending for No Child Left Behind. Members of the Senate released this statement in response to the decisions of our President, “There is no room for school reform in a budget that is monopolized by more and more tax breaks for the super-wealthy.”(1)
"The president's first education budget after he signed his much-touted No Child Left Behind Act proposed $22.2 billion, a cut of more than $90 million below the previous year and more than $7 billion less than Congress had authorized. They need to change the name of the law to the Quite a Few Children Left Behind Act."(2) With college costs rising 20 % in the last three years, Bush’s budget proposed no increases for the Pell grant. Education is cannot survive without funding, and the nation cannot survive without education.