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BLACK HISTORY MONTH and the American Experience
Page A4
February 22. 2006
Opinion articles do not
necessarily reflect or represent the
views o f The Portland Observer
O pinion
Tutoring Program Needs Reality Check
Few eligible
students enroll
m J lim . e G reg M athis
When President Bush signed the
No Child Left Behind Act into law.
he made drastic changes to the
public education system by requir­
ing, among other things, failing
schools to offer parents and stu­
dents a choice: free tutoring or the
chance to transfer to a new, better
performing school.
It’s been four years and while
the jury is still out on whether or
not the law has improved the
quality o f education, one thing is
certain: only a small percentage
of the students available for the
tutoring programs
are taking advan­
tage.
A c c o rd in g to
the Department of
E d u c a tio n , less
than 12-percentof
the nearly two m il­
lion children that
are eligible for free
tutoring actually
were there when their children
enrolls. Education experts around modern family.
were dism issed from school at
The
current
public
school
sys­
the country say schools have to
the
end of the day.
tem,
with
children
starting
school
do a better jo b of promoting and
But
in modern reality, where
around
9
a.m
.
and
departing
explaining the tutoring services.
there
are
more and more single
around
3
p.m.,
is
based
on
an
Getting the word out is a start.
mothers
-
and fathers - working a
antiquated
notion
that
has
gone
But, to really improve the quality
variety
of
shifts to make ends
the
way
of
June
Cleaver
and
Leave
of education in this country, we
meet,
this
schedule sets many
it
to
Beaver.
This
set
up
was
fine
have to rethink the entire idea of
school and revamp the system to during an era when mothers didn’t families and, ultimately, their chil­
reflect the changing needs of the work outside of the home and dren, up for failure. Parents have
to d e c id e b e tw e e n
making suretheirchild
gets a ride home with
the neighbor's kids or
participating in an ex­
tracurricular activity.
Knowing that free
tutoring is available to
help their struggling
child will only help a
parent so much: tutor­
ing sessions must be designed
with the p a re n t's schedule in
mind. Providing tutoring anti
other after-school programs at the
school will ensure parents w on’t
have to worry about additional
childcare or transportation. Small
changes like this will go a long
way in making sure parents take
advantage of the options offered
With competition fo r even the most
basic jobs getting tougher anti tougher,
it is more crucial than ever before that
we ensure our children are getting the
best education possible.
to them.
With com petition for even the
most basic jobs getting tougher
and tougher, it is more crucial
than ever before that we ensure
our children are getting the best
education possible.
W hile improving teacherqual-
ity and raising perform ance stan­
dards is critical, it is not enough.
More o f our resources have to go
into rethinking and, ultim ately,
recreating the public school sys­
tem as we know it. If w ed o n 't pay
the costs now, society will pay a
greater price in the long run.
Judge Greg Mathis is national
vice president o f Rainbow PUSH
and a national board member o f
the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference.
End the War and Bring Troops Home Bush’s 1RS Goes After Poor Folks
We have done all
that we can do
by
U.S. R ep . W illiam L acy
C lay
T h re e y e a rs a g o , I
warned President Bush that
the invasion and occupa­
tion o f Iraq would be a
tragic mistake. I never be­
lieved the A dm inistration's
spin about weapons o f mass
destruction. I never be­
lieved the nonsense about
Saddam Hussein’s alleged
links to Al Q aeda and the September
11 attacks. And, I certainly didn’t
believe that Iraqi oil revenues would
pay for this unnecessary war.
So, I voted against the resolution
to authorize the use of force. And
now, here we are three years later.
The president still has no real plan to
win and no credible plan to get out.
U.S. taxpayers have spent $3(M)
billion in Iraq and the meter is still
tunning. That money isn 't even
included in the mas­
sive budget deficit that
will exceed $400 mil­
lion fo r fiscal year
2007.
But, there is also a
much greater cost, one
that we can never re­
cover. As o f today,
according to the De­
partment o f Defense,
2,373 U .S. so ld iers
have been killed in Iraq and over
16,000 have been wounded. And,
the International Red Cross esti­
mates that at least 32,000 innocent
Iraqi civilians have been killed.
O ur troops are magnificent. I
salute their courage, their bravery
and their great sacrifice.
But we have done all that we can
do in Iraq and it is time to bring them
home.
I w ant to address my thoughts
especially to the young people o f
this co u n try . M ore than three
d ecades ago, young A m ericans
w ere the first voices to dem and
an end to the lies about V ietnam .
B ecause they loved their country,
they asked their governm ent to
finally tell the truth. Because they
lo v e d th e ir c o u n try , th e y d e ­
m anded an end to the senseless
violence.
I hope today, young Americans
will once again rise up and use their
voices to send that message to the
president and tothe Republican lead­
ership who started this war based
on a false premise.
Congressman William Lacy Clay
is a member o f the Congressional
Mack Caucus from Missouri.
‘T h e m th a t’s got
is th em th at g e ts ’
by J im
H ightower
You’ve gotta love the consistency of the
W hite House. W hen it ram s through its
multibillion-dollar tax giveaways, it’s the super­
rich and corporations that gain.
But when they unleash their IRS to look into
tax cheating, they don’t probe the tax shelters of
millionaires or the multibillion-dollar offshore
tax havens of corporate finaglers - instead, they
go after the working poor who’re entitled to tax
credits of only a few hundred bucks each.
With Bush & Co., them that’s go, is them that
gets... and everybody else should watch out!
That’s the hard lesson learned by some 1.6
million low-income workers who have not only
had their tax refunds frozen in the past five years,
but also have had their tax filings officially
labeled ’’fraudulent” by the IRS.
This crackdown on the poor has allowed
Bush to claim that, by gollies, he’s tough on tax
fraud. But the IRS’s own in-house taxpayer
advocate, Nina Olson, says - wait a minute - she
and her staff analyzed the returns of these
accused poor folks and found that two-thirds of
them were actually entitled to the tax credit they
sought.... or entitled to even more money. An­
other 14 percent were due a, least a partial
refund, and of the remaining 20 percent, almost
none had committed fraud, but instead had
simply been confused by the complicated tax
forms and made honest errors.
By the way. the average income of these
supposed tax deadbeats was only $13,000. The
great majority were working parents who were
using the eamed-income tax credit, which was
first advocated by the laissez-faire guru Milton
Friedman and first implemented by Ronnie
Reagan. But now these good folks are being
browbeat by the Bush administration for crass
political gain.
If you’re a corporate tax cheat, the president
and his congressional henchmen look the other
way - but if you're a working stiff, you're pre­
sumed to be a fraud... and the IRS comes down
on you.
Jim Hightower is the best-selling author o f
"Thieves In High Places: They've Stiden Our
Country’ And It's Time To Take It Back. "
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