Education legacy can’t be bought “on the cheap”

 Prospects for renewing the No Child Left Behind education law this year are essentially dead, as Capitol Hill lawmakers appear content to leave the legislation to the politically charged environment of next year’s presidential election. Senate leaders made a bipartisan decision recently to delay consideration of NCLB renewal legislation until next year. House negotiations over a similar bill continue to sputter along and, complicating matters further, Democratic education leaders railed against President Bush yesterday after he threatened to veto a labor, health and education spending bill.

That Democrat-crafted bill exceeds Bush’s funding request for the Education Department by some $4.5 billion, including $600 million more than he requested for NCLB programs, according to House Democrats. House education panel Chairman George Miller, California Democrat, said the veto threat “sharply reduced the prospects” for bipartisan negotiations over NCLB renewal. “He thinks he can have his education legacy on the cheap. He is profoundly mistaken,” Miller said of Bush. Read more in The Washington Times.