News Writing 101 instructs that the reporter’s lead sentence should grab the reader’s attention quickly. Your reporter Benjamin Wood deserves an A for this succinct lead in the July 14 article about opt-outs from standardized testing: “Utah’s public schools are poised to take a hit from parents who excuse their children from year-end tests.”
From Wood’s factual account that follows, a reader can conclude that dissenting parents actually are not the real culprits. The problem begins with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, which Republican leaders such as Senate Education Chairman Lamar Alexander sold as terminating a national school board and restoring local flexibility. In reality, the law imposes such arbitrary requirements as 95 percent participation on federally mandated assessments.
Utah officials repeatedly asked the U.S. Education Department: “Mother, may I?” Big Ma said no to test flexibility. However, USED was only too happy to let Utah comply by counting as zeroes all students who opt out of the assessments. That means schools with high opt-out rates will see their ratings sag, which may cost them federal aid. It is the typical bureaucratic gambit: Based on a lie, it shifts blame from authorities to everyday parents, many of whom have legitimate concerns about assessments shrouded in secrecy.
So let us be clear: The villains are not Mom and Dad. They are the politicians and unelected officials who keep feeding the federal USED/ESSA machine that is crushing parental rights and local control.
Robert Holland, Arlington Heights, Ill., senior fellow for education policy, The Heartland Institute
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