What Has Ted Cruz Done For Education?
When we hear “common core,” it’s difficult to know how to evaluate the candidate’s record on education. We’ll take a look at his support for school choice and opposition to it, and consider his relationship with Abbott. These are just a few of the many questions we must consider when evaluating Cruz’s impact on education. I hope you’ll join me in analyzing the impact of Cruz’s education policies.
Cruz’s support of common core
After building his national brand on repealing Obamacare, Ted Cruz is now battling with another measure: Common Core education standards. Common Core has become a hot topic for conservatives, who fear federal intrusion into education. But the federal government did not create Common Core, so Cruz’s support for Common Core is entirely unfounded. He is doing his job, but you shouldn’t be so sure. Cruz is playing with your kids’ future.
It’s important to understand the political realities behind the current debate over Common Core. The controversial program is not going anywhere, and it will be difficult to repeal it without Congress’ help. But if Republicans win the election in November, they’ll likely make it hard for opponents of the program to gain traction. In addition, there are other factors at play, including a lingering concern among conservatives about the program’s cost.
His support of school choice
Republican senators are working hard to limit defections from the stimulus bill. They want to make sure that 51 senators will support the plan, so they are hoping that the bill will pass next week. But Sen. Ted Cruz is pushing for school choice, and if the measure fails, it could end up sinking in the Senate. But even with some GOP votes opposed to the plan, Cruz seems confident that the plan will pass with full Republican support.
The Center for Public Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank in Austin, estimated that if 5 percent of Texas students left public schools, it would cost $2 billion. Another study, done by the Indianapolis-based EdChoice organization, found that vouchers for private schools could save the state more than $6 billion. Regardless of where the debate goes, it is clear that Cruz is a strong advocate of school choice and has an understanding of how to support it without compromising public education.
His opposition to common core
Despite Bill Nye’s enthusiastic endorsement of Common Core for education, he refuses to mention its other major flaws. First of all, he assumes that opponents of the standards are evolution deniers, despite the fact that there is ample evidence to suggest that evolution is a scientific fact. Second, Common Core’s science standards firmly establish that human activity is a major factor in climate change. Lastly, Nye fails to mention the other major criticisms of the Common Core, such as the lack of evidence that these standards improve schools.
Whether Common Core is a necessary solution, it does not address the issues that caused NCLB testing problems. Under NCLB, every state participates in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test to assess performance in math and reading. NAEP provides a rock-solid benchmark for comparison across states, and was used to flag states that were gaming NCLB tests. However, Common Core supporters saw this as an unsatisfactory solution to their problem.