Reply #28: I know [View All]

[sandnsea]

There are bad things in this bill, no doubt in my mind. It's stupid that good schools were graded on improvement only, with no regard to where they started. But it's also true that parents tend to think their local school is either okay or terrible, regardless of how the school actually performs. National testing would give them a real idea of how their school is really doing. Parents have a right to know.

Mentally disabled students shouldn't have to pass the same tests, they've never had to in the past. But kids with other problems have been learning for generations, it's not acceptable that they aren't anymore. I've seen too many schools that just let these kids fail and drop out, it's unspoken policy. It's not fair for teachers to be expected to perform miracles, but if the funding had been provided, programs to reach these kids would have followed. There would have been no way around it.

So I'm not for scrapping this bill. From a parent's perspective, I see some things in this bill that are long overdue.