Former Gov. Jeb Bush, Sec. Margaret Spellings talk on the future of education - The Dallas Morning News

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Public schools are still in flux amid the ongoing pandemic. So what does that mean for the future of education?

Wednesday night, the George W. Bush Institute brought together former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Margaret Spellings, the former secretary of education, to discuss key issues are impacting students.

In a wide-ranging, hour-long talk, they covered culture war issues, school choice and the 20th anniversary of No Child Left Behind, the landmark education bill passed under the former President Bush.

Here are three takeaways:

Culture wars in schools

Bush, a Republican, said politics have become “one-dimensional.”

“I’d love to see a more positive, hopeful, aggressive reform agenda,” he said.

Many conservatives have zeroed-in on “critical race theory,” a decades-old academic framework that explores the way policies and laws uphold systemic racism across the country. But pundits and politicians have conflated it with schools’ broader diversity and inclusion efforts, even as education officials continue to insist the theory is not taught in K-12 curriculums.

In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has signed two bills aimed at banning critical race theory from classrooms. The fight has more recently morphed into debates over the appropriateness of school library books that delve into issues of race, gender and sexuality. Several districts have started removing controversial materials from shelves, prompting condemnation from free speech advocates.

“As I get older, I get more Libertarian. I don’t like banning books,” Bush said. “This could be a slippery slope that goes to really bad places.”

No Child Left Behind

Spellings, the former education secretary under President Bush, said she’s proud of the elements of the landmark bill that stand today, specifically the annual testing requirements with disaggregated data on student groups.

“We have a moral imperative, a clarion call …  to really see about the needs of every single student,” she said.

The law, Bush’s bipartisan education initiative, ushered in high-stakes tests used to measure students’ gains. It came with strict accountability measures should schools not show academic progress. The law also mandated schools publish scores broken down by race, sex, disability and family income – highlighting the persistent gaps between how students of different demographics.

But it was often criticized by some parents and educators for overemphasizing testing.

What did NCLB get wrong, in her eyes?

“Too much one-size-fits-all,” she said. “Some misstarts on implementation. But for the most part, I’d do it again.”

Critics of the federal law often argued that the testing requirements and other standards set didn’t always account for those students learning English or who had disabilities.

More school choice?

Bush, who now chairs the reform think tank ExcelinEd, has been a vocal proponent for expanded school choice. He said he’s optimistic about more movement in state legislatures in response to the pandemic’s impact on education.

Nationwide, students have fallen behind academically because of COVID-19 disruptions that have often meant students shifting from in-person to online classes and back again.

Florida’s current governor has significantly expanded that state’s voucher program, increasing students’ eligibility to get a private education at public expense.

“Assume [parents] love their child, with their heart and soul, and care for their child, more than some bureaucrat that never sees the kid,” Bush said. “If you start with that premise, you move in a totally different system than 13,000 government-run, unionized, politicized school districts.”

Spellings said she’s “much more bullish on choice” than she was two decades ago.

In Texas, education observers suspect Abbott and others are laying the groundwork for a renewed push for voucher-like initiatives in the 2023 legislative session.

Generally, vouchers funnel taxpayer money that would otherwise support public schools to individual students or families to help offset private school tuition. Other related school choice initiatives include tax credits or education saving accounts that set aside money for tuition or additional services.

Such proposals have historically received support in the more conservative Texas Senate before dying in the House.

Many teacher groups and public school advocates say they’re bracing to fight such efforts because they see the push as chipping away at public schools, siphoning money from classrooms that serve the vast majority of kids.

The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.

The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from The Beck Group, Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, The Meadows Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University and Todd A. Williams Family Foundation. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.

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