November 20, 2015 5:38 PM

Former Bush Education Secretary holds out little hope for rewrite of No Child Left Behind

After following the debate, Margaret Spellings also is convinced many who want accountability aren’t willing to pay for it or put adequate resources toward it.

Former Education Secretary Margaret Spellings told a room of civic leaders in Austin yesterday that the soft bigotry of low expectations is alive and well in the current rewrite of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Republican lawmakers promised to rid the country of its “national school board” in the overdue rewrite of the Elementary and Second Education Act. A conference committee on Capitol Hill signed off on its compromise yesterday, sending assessment back to the states, dropping career- and college-readiness standards and, most importantly, eliminating controversial sanctions.

Spellings, a key architect of No Child Left Behind, made no apologies for an accountability system that is now vehemently derided by schools and parents. Many have that luxury, Spellings said, because it’s not their children who are failed by public schools. School districts and board members are always ready with an excuse as to why some children, especially those in poverty, can’t learn.

By Kimberly Reeves