Daddy Potomac Gonna Learn Us Some More

In the news today:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush said Thursday that renewing the No Child Left Behind law will be a priority for him next year but acknowledged the law isn't working as well for parents as it should.

...

For example, many schools report their test scores late. So many parents don't find out that their children have a right to transfer until a new school year has begun.

"It kind of looks like people are afraid to put out results for some reason," Bush said in a speech at the Woodridge Elementary and Middle Campus, a thriving charter school in a run-down neighborhood five miles from the White House. "And so we'll work with Congress to clarify the law and to strengthen the law to make sure our parents get timely information and useful information."

...

Bush outlined a series of ways in which the law could be improved, such as by expanding testing in high schools, an idea he has pitched to Congress for two years. He also said he wants the federal government to pay for 28,000 low income students across the country to transfer to private schools, an initiative he has in the current budget request at a cost of $100 million.

His comments come after Education Secretary Margaret Spellings recently told reporters that that law is "like Ivory soap: It's 99.9 percent pure or something." Spellings later said she was referring to the core principles of the law and is willing to consider improvements to the law.

The law was passed with support of some leading Democrats who now say Bush has not provided enough funding to carry out the goals. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., said he welcomes the opportunity to "get these essential reforms back on track."

Let's see ... what part of the Constitution is it, again, that empowers the central government to ... well, do whatever it is that it does ... to or about education?