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Cato Dispatch for January 8, 2008

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(Links to outside sources were active as of the date of this dispatch; however, not all news sources maintain links to current stories indefinitely. Some links also may require registration.)

No Child Left Behind Turns Six

"President Bush visited [Chicago's] Horace Greeley Elementary [on Monday] to tour classrooms and tout the six-year anniversary of his landmark No Child Left Behind law," reports The Chicago Sun-Times. "'Fewer students are falling behind," Bush said. 'I know No Child Left Behind has worked.' However, as the law faces reauthorization, Bush said he supports a more accurate way of measuring high school dropouts -- a procedure that varies from state to state -- and easier access to tutoring. Officials also are exploring ways to credit the growth of individual students, rather than schoolwide gains. Critics have called the law an unfunded mandate that encourages states to water down tests and has fueled reading and math test-prep mania. Since the law's 2002 signing, Illinois lowered the passing mark on its eighth-grade math test and has given kids more time to take their annual exams." 

Neal McCluskey, associate director of Cato's Center for Educational Freedom, comments:

"Six years of No Child Left Behind, and what do we have to show for it? Stagnant reading achievement, slowed math improvements, declining academic performance versus competitor nations, and narrowed curricula, all for the bargain price of about $24 billion per year, or a 40 percent increase over fiscal year 2001. This pathetic return on our investment, of course, would be shocking were it not for another inconvenient truth: The federal government has been spending billions of dollars on education every year for over four decades, and its never produced anything but academic stagnation and lighter taxpayer wallets. Why? Because federal policy is primarily designed to do little more than let politicians show that they 'care,' and let the education establishment and its powerful lobbyists get as much money--and as little accountability--as possible.

"This year, Washington ought to give the entire country a present to celebrate NCLB's sixth birthday: the law's elimination, and the end of 40-plus years of expensive failure."

Andrew Coulson, the Center's director and co-author of  "End it, Don't Mend It: What to do with NCLB," adds:

"It's the NCLB's birthday, but what do you get for the law that's done nothing? Barely a month ago, two separate sets of international test results were released, allowing us to see how U.S. academic performance has changed since NCLB was enacted. Across grades and across subjects, student achievement has either stagnated or declined %u2013 that's despite the infusion of tens of billions of dollars of new spending in each of the past six years.

"The tests were PIRLS (Program on International Reading Literacy Survey) and PISA (Program on International Student Assessment). For more details, please see my summary of the results here.

It's the NCLB's birthday, and you can cry if you want to. And if you have kids in school, or about to enter school, you might want to."

Supreme Court to Rule on Voter-ID Law

"A U.S. Supreme Court clash over Indiana's voter-identification law raises echoes of the 2000 Bush v. Gore case, pitting Republicans against Democrats in a fight over the rules of the polling place," reports Bloomberg.  "The justices tomorrow in Washington will hear the Indiana Democratic Party's arguments against the law, which requires people to produce a government-issued photo ID before voting on Election Day. Republicans are defending the law, which was enacted on a party-line vote and signed by a Republican governor in 2005."

In "Voter ID: A Tempest in a Teapot That Could Burn Us All," Jim Harper, Cato's director of information policy studies, writes:

"Two ideological camps are in a bitter struggle over voter identification rules. The issue receives an airing in the Supreme Court this week. Neither side in the voter ID dispute has a lot of facts behind its arguments, but the quarrel is not likely to end soon. Proponents of liberty should beware of one thing: If a national voter ID requirement takes hold, such a system would be cause for regret across the ideological spectrum. ... There will never be a 'perfect' voting process. Striking the balance between security and access involves tradeoffs. Top-down attempts to perfect voting processes could be quite damaging to Americans' liberties. The qualifications to vote are typically residency in the relevant jurisdiction, attainment of a certain age, sufficient mental capacity, and absence of a felony conviction. These credentials can be proven without identity cards and databases, or with tightly minimized documentation and recordkeeping. To ensure that American voters enjoy their franchise in a free country, clumsy voter ID rules should be avoided. A national voter ID system should be taken off the table entirely."

VA Governor Renews Push for Smoking Ban

"Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said yesterday that he will renew his push for a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, a proposal that faces a stiff challenge in a state with a powerful tobacco lobby," reports The Washington Post. "Speaking at a restaurant in Virginia Beach, Kaine (D) said he will introduce legislation during the session, which begins tomorrow, that would prohibit smoking in indoor establishments that serve food -- including private clubs. 'We all know the scientific evidence of the health risks of secondhand smoke is very clear,' said Kaine, who added that the Virginia Department of Health estimates that secondhand smoke is responsible for 1,700 deaths in the state each year."

In "Smoking Bans Are Dangerous to a Free Society's Health," Thomas A. Firey, managing editor of Cato's Regulation magazine, writes:

"Proponents justify a ban by arguing that secondhand smoke is a health risk. But all sorts of human activities are risky - from contact sports to rock climbing, from skiing to swimming, from riding a bike to having sex. ... Ban supporters respond that smokers inflict harm on other people, including bar and restaurant employees and other patrons. But again, all sorts of activities impose risks on others, and again, those people bear those risks willingly. Rock climbers endanger rescue workers, pool owners endanger lifeguards and patrons, fishing boat captains endanger their crews, and so on. We grant people the choice to be rangers or lifeguards or commercial fishermen. Why shouldn't we allow people to choose to patronize or work in smoking bars and restaurants? Free societies allow people to make decisions that others don't like. That includes allowing smokers to have bars and restaurants to cater to their preferences, just as nonsmokers should have establishments that cater to theirs."

Laura Osio, editor, losio@cato.org