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REDESIGNING
IDAHO’S HIGH SCHOOLS TO REFLECT THE WORLDWIDE ECONOMY
What Thoughtful Citizens Need
to Know
An Analysis Prepared by F, Willard Robinson, Ed. D.
On March 13, 2005 the
Governor and the State Board of Education launched their plan for
educational reform in Idaho. It is important for all constituencies
within the state to take the proposal seriously. Education absorbs over
fifty percent of the total state budget. Our young people are our
future. As a part of the process, four public hearings on the proposal
are required to be held across the state. These hearings are scheduled:
October 5, Idaho Falls, Eastern Idaho Technical College
October 6, Pocatello, Idaho State University
October 12, Boise, Boise State University
October 13, Twin Falls, College of Southern Idaho
October 1, Lewiston, Lewis-Clark College
October 19, Coeur d’Alene, North Idaho College
All hearings begin at 6:30 p.m.
Citizens should be concerned
when a major education reform program, which has national and
international implications, is again presented to the State of Idaho
ostensibly as an Idaho program. Such an educational reform program was
presented by the Governor Kempthorne, the State Board of Education and
representatives of the Bill Gates Foundation at a general meeting held
at BSU on August 23, 2005. The new plan is titled, Redesigning Idaho’s
High Schools to Reflect the Worldwide Economy. On October 5, as required
by state code, the first of six public bearings on the reform program
will begin. Two weeks later the public hearings will be completed. The
wisdom of thrusting this extensive education reform program on the State
of Idaho without the professional input from school teachers and
administrators responsible, and the parents of our young people needs to
be questioned. The approach is troublesome, especially when it is not an
Idaho program as presented, but rather, again, a national program
financed by a one-billion grant from the Bill Gates Foundation through
UNESCO, the U.S Department of Education and sponsored by the National
Governor’s Association.
Like the ISIMS program, which thoughtful citizens fought and Albertsons
Foundation discontinued after investing thirty-one million dollars and
enduring a leadership shake-up. Now the State Board of Education, under
the -leadership of their President Rod Lewis, who is a Micron Executive,
and Governor Kempthorne, is launching another educational program, one
that again has a national and international dimension. Primarily it is
presented as a plan to strengthen the mathematics and science programs
in Idaho schools. Not so well advertised are some international
education programs they tried to get the State Legislature to endorse
earlier this year. These included the Global Education program (of which
Green Cross is a part), the European- based International Baccalaureate
program, the Center for Civic Education program, (the federal funds for
this program have recently been cut by the Bush administration) and the
Idaho Human Rights program, again a program sponsored by UNESCO. Also,
an integral part of the new reform plan is the old discredited “School
to Work” program, later to come in as “Worklink”. Now it is reemerging
in the Idaho School Redesign Summit. Aspects of these programs were in
Goals 2000 and the No Child Left Behind Act. Now these programs are
camouflaged under the guise of the national mathematics and science
programs.
Concerned citizens, our professional educators, the local boards of
trustees, and our state legislators are our hope to challenge the growth
of outside bureaucratic influence on our public schools. Here are the
questions that need to be asked:
• What is the State Board of Education’s source of money that pays for
the statewide campaign to launch “The Future is Now!’-Program? This
includes the salaries of the new public relations staff Directors, the
advertising radio announcements, and the distribution of professional
brochures.
• What is the source of money for the National Governors Association,
and what is their relationship with the U.S. Department of Education and
UNESCO? Are funds from either of these entities used to finance the
Idaho project?
• How are monies from the one-billion dollar grant from the Bill Gates
Foundation distributed? Are they distributed to UNESCO to help establish
the International Student Data Base? Do the funds supplement the
development of the National Student Data Base, now bring developed under
a multimillion dollar contract with ETS (Educational Testing ServICE-PAC)?
What portion of the Bill Gates Foundation fund comes to the Idaho State
Board of Education? What are the requirements for tapping into these
funds? And what is the source of monies that fund the establishment of
the International Education programs involved?
. What has been the role of the Idaho State Legislature in the
establishment of major educational reform programs within the state?
Have these procedures been followed? And if not, why not?
• Is the controversial International Baccalaureate Program, as announced
by the State Board of Education’s public relation offICE-PACr, a part of the
proposed Idaho reform plan? And if so, does this mean the resurrection
of the failed ISIMS program, a program necessary to administer student
records through an international student data-base? Why do these student
records, which are extensive, become the sole property of the
European-based educational program?
• Why would the Idaho State Board of Education resurrect the defunct and
discredited School to Work program and Worklink into a “redesign’s of a
new reform educational program for Idaho?
This is not an exhaustive list of questions, but hopefully they will be
helpful in opening a needed discussion. School reform should be
implemented within the “history and the Idaho Constitution, laws, rules,
and regulations that substantiate those communities, through their
locally elected school boards, should control and make decisions
concerning schools and their children.” (see Idaho School Boards
Position, 2003 Resolutions & Legislative Policies).
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