Not Your Sweetie

Bush to Boost Education Budget by 1 Billion

Hey, isn't that the money he wants to take from the school lunches? And give it to Neil and others making a buck in the testing business?


But Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who helped craft the legislation
with Bush, contended the president has failed to allot enough money
for schools to fulfill the law's promise. He said the increase Bush
has in mind for next year was $6 billion less than allowed in the bill.

"Reform without resources is just hollow talk - not the real
improvement our children need and deserve," Kennedy said in a
statement. "The president's proposal may provide the money to test
our children, but not enough to teach them. It's wrong to ask schools
to do better on pocket change, especially as states face $68 billion
shortfalls."

So, here's how the BFEE works:


Mon, Oct. 28, 2002

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/news/local/4384679.htm

Neil Bush company trying to sell state FCAT
software plan

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A software company run by Neil Bush, a younger brother of Gov.
Jeb Bush, hopes to sell a program to Florida schools that students
would use to prepare for the test that is key to the governor's
education policy.

Texas-based Ignite Inc. makes software being used in a pilot
program at an Orlando-area middle school to help students
prepare for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, which
the governor has championed as a yardstick for school
performance.



Ignite spokeswoman Louise Thacker denied the company had an
unfair advantage because Bush, its founder and CEO, is a brother
of Florida's governor.



Gov. Bush's use of the FCAT complies with a law supported by
another brother - President George W. Bush. The president's
"Leave No Child Behind" law forces states to use testing as a
measuring stick for schools.

"I don't know where the money's going to come from for this,"
Banfill said. "These districts are hard pressed to pay for chalk, let
alone to put money in the pocket of the Bush family."

Neil Bush gained notoriety as director of the Silverado Savings &
Loan in Colorado, whose failure cost taxpayers $1 billion and led
to a grand jury investigation during the term of his father,
President George H.W. Bush. Neil Bush was never charged.