June 26, 2007

Outgoing Pennsylvania State Board member David Saxe expresses regret over the erosion of local control in educational policy, the No Child Left Behind Act, too much testing, and not enough debate over decisions.

"'My position is that Pennsylvania should have been more direct with Washington and tell them, 'We are not going to do these things,' " said David Saxe, a former schoolteacher and Penn State professor. "'Instead, they negotiated with Washington and created policies that are difficult for the schools,'" reports the Centre Daily.

More Saxe from the article: "I think teachers and administrators are now marching to so many different masters -- the federal government, state Board of Education, teacher unions. It's just pulling them, and the kids are suffering."

"The testing is out of control. There is way too much going on ... It's like we made this 800-pound gorilla and now we don't know how to feed it."