Government Using Waivers As Pacifiers

Here we go again. After cramming debt increasing legislation down America's economic throat, the "benevolent" Obama administration continues to use stop-gap waivers to calm the anxious masses. This time it's Secretary Arne Duncan at the Department of Education. His Race to the Top initiative, which some have compared to No Child Left Behind on steroids, created quite a pressure cooker for state school systems. The DOE just announced it will begin handing out waivers to state school districts who are "begging the federal government for relief from student testing mandates."

Duncan's high-stakes strategy ties test scores to each school's evaluation, ratcheting up demands on local education officials. Grateful superintendent Patrick Russo of Henrico, Virginia lauded the latest move by Duncan.

We would welcome relief from any penalties to schools regarding their ability to meet AYP (adequate yearly progress) standards for the coming school year. We also look forward to hearing details, from Congress and the administration, on the long-term plan to address the federal education law.

According to one newspaper report Obama himself directed the DOE to issue the waivers.

The plan to offer waivers to all 50 states, as long as they meet other school reform requirements, comes at the request of President Barack Obama, Duncan. More details will come in September.

Through the waivers, schools will get some relief from looming deadlines to meet testing goals as long as they agree to embrace other kinds of reforms such as raising standards, helping teachers and principals improve and focusing on fixing the lowest performing schools.

Sound familiar? In July The Hill reported Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius granted almost 1500 waivers to companies and organizations unable to comply with the new healthcare regulations under ObamaCare.

The folks in the Obama administration who implement megabuck fiascos like Race to the Top and ObamaCare eventually turn well-meaning, trusting Americans into toddlers "begging for relief." Carl Jung warned us about the totalitarians reigning over a "human kindergarten."  First they initiate policies that traumatize their subjects then they pacify them with waivers. 

Read more M.Catharine Evans at Potter Williams Report