Every Sunday, the Washington Post lets someone bust five myths about some public-policy matter. Most recently, the buster—or shall I say dodger—was Chester E. Finn Jr., President of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, who addressed five contentious accusations about the No Child Left Behind Act. Why “dodger”? Because rather than directly address the myths, in most cases Finn offered either tangential, deceptive, or just plain inaccurate responses. Let’s look at the five myths and Finn’s answers to them, but rather than go in the order that Finn listed the myths, let’s work from the smallest dodge to the largest.

Least-dodged myth: We begin at the end of Finn’s list, with Finn attacking the notion that “certified teachers are better than non-certified teachers.” Finn argues that “there’s no solid evidence that state teacher certification ensures classroom effectiveness,” and here he’s right on the money. In fact, I wrote the same thing just a few weeks ago.

Getting a little dodgier: In his second entry, Finn disputes the assertion that “No Child Left Behind is egregiously underfunded.” Here he rightly takes issue with constant complaints that NCLB is underfunded because Washington has never spent the full amount authorized under the law. 100 percent of an authorized amount is almost never spent under any law, and Finn correctly points out that “viewed that way, nearly everything born in Washington is underfunded.”

Where Finn runs into trouble is that he fails to directly address another common underfunding complaint: NCLB requires states and districts to do things—write and implement new tests, produce report cards, comply with lots of new rules and regulations—without supplying sufficient funds to pay for them. Finn logically points out that public schools in the U.S. spend nearly $10,000 per-pupil (though it’s more like $11,500 and counting), so they have plenty of money to implement new things, but to directly bust the myth it’s necessary to show that NCLB pays for what it requires.

Mid-way dodge: The third myth Finn addresses is that “setting academic standards will fix U.S. schools.” Finn is a proponent of national standards, so it’s no surprise that he finesses this myth by acknowledging that NCLB encourages states to set low standards while simultaneously suggesting that standards-based reforms can work if “good standards” are in place.

Finn is right about NCLB’s perverse incentives—if schools and states don’t make progress toward 100-percent “proficiency” they are punished, but states define proficiency for themselves—however, its a big leap to imply that government schools will ever put “good standards” in place. Teachers, school administrators, and education bureaucrats who have a strong interest in low, easy-to-meet standards control education politics, which might be why only three states—Massachusetts, California and South Carolina—have standards Finn considers good, and two of these three might soon have their high standards go away.

The runner-up dodge: In the penultimate dodge—and the fourth myth attacked on his list—Finn addresses the belief that “standardized testing required by No Child Left Behind gets in the way of real learning.” Instead of arguing that NCLB’s standardized testing requirements truly don’t get in the way of real learning, Finn argues that if testing is “an honest measure of a solid curriculum” it doesn’t have to get in the way. But based on the “setting academic standards” myth discussed above, we know that states aren’t honestly measuring solid curricula. And then there’s what Finn himself has written: Because NCLB puts all the carrots, sticks, and tests on math and reading, it has pushed other important subjects dangerously close to the margins, most definitely jeopardizing “real learning.”

The Big Dodge: Finn started with his big dodge, and I’ll end with it. Despite all logic and evidence screaming that it is absolutely not a myth that “No Child Left Behind is an unprecedented extension of federal control over schools,” Finn says it is. Why? Because states don’t have to follow the law if they’ll just turn down federal money, and NCLB is really just the latest incarnation of the decades-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

First off, while states do “volunteer” to take federal money, their taxpayers have no choice but to pony the funds up in the first place, which means by following NCLB states are really just getting back hundreds-of-millions of their taxpayers’ dollars. And the notion that because NCLB is the latest permutation of ESEA it isn’t an unprecedented intrusion? Well, the original ESEA was only about 50 pages long, while NCLB occupies more than 600 pages! And the additional 550 sheets aren’t just filled with meaningless doodles or love notes; they contain scads of directives and programs heaped onto the law over decades of reauthorizations, including brand-new NCLB requirements for testing, teacher qualifications, “scientifically-based” reading curricula, etc. In other words, NCLB is absolutely an unprecedented extension of federal power, and no amount of myth-dodging can change that.

The 39.3 percent corporate tax rate in the United States is very high by world standards, exceeded only by Japan. This is very damaging for job creation and prosperity – and it becomes an even bigger problem every time another nation lowers its corporate rate. The latest nation to move in the right direction is
New Zealand, which is dropping its rate to 30 percent, according to Tax-news.com:

An important initiative in the government’s ongoing programme to strengthen the economy takes effect on April 1st, 2008, when the company tax rate drops to 30%, Finance Minister Michael Cullen and Revenue Minister Peter Dunne announced on Monday. “Reducing the company tax rate will allow successful businesses to re-invest a greater share of their profits in new technologies and in further building-up the skill base of employees,” Dr Cullen stated. “We expect that lowering of the company tax rate will serve to strengthen the competitiveness of New Zealand-based companies, and that is good for the long-term interests of all New Zealanders,” Dunne added. The cut to the company tax rate to 30% (from 33% previously) represents the first time the company tax rate has been reduced in New Zealand since 1988.

The New York Times reports that high-tax nations such as France and Germany are badgering Switzerland to weaken its privacy laws so that flight capital can be tracked – and taxed. Germany’s former finance minister even argues that this would be akin to Switzerland helping to return a stolen car. But this argument is morally and legally wrong. On a moral basis, the German government is the one guilty of taking something it shouldn’t have. Over-taxed Germans are putting their money in Swiss banks because they don’t want the German government to confiscate too much of their money – especially since Germany is guilty of both high tax rates and pervasive double taxation of income that is saved and invested. If Germany wants to reduce tax evasion, it should reform its tax code rather than harrass peaceful neighbors. On a legal basis, nations help each other enforce laws using the principle of “dual criminality,” which means that an action has to be against the law in both nations. Stealing cars is illegal in both Swtizerland and Germany, so cooperation in the battle against car theft is appropriate. Confidential bank accounts, by contrast, are not against the law in Switzerland, so there is no reason for Switzerland the violate its human rights policiy on privacy just to help Germany enforce bad tax law. This upsets the Germans, yet they do the same thing when refusing the extradite suspects who might face the death penalty to America. It’s not their job to enforce American criminal law, so they have every right to say no. But it does indicate that German priorities are a bit strange. They defend the principle of dual criminality when they want to provide refuge to American murderers, but they think the principle should be discarded when politicians think they can grab some money from Swiss banks:

This land of stunning Alpine vistas, which has chosen to remain outside the European Union, has always loomed large in the global imagination as the place where the wealthy stash their money beyond the tax man’s reach. The best estimates suggest that image is true, to the tune of $1 trillion to $2 trillion. The scandal that threatens that lucrative business began when German authorities obtained secret financial data from Liechtenstein, Switzerland’s tiny neighbor with similar banking laws. The information in hand, investigators fanned out across Germany to seize documents thought to be related to tax evasion by hundreds of wealthy Germans. Cases are now being prepared based on the information, a process likely to take years. The fallout has claimed the job of one top executive, Klaus Zumwinkel, who had headed the German postal service, and has given the German left a political boost. But Switzerland is the bigger prize. And its continuing refusal to help other countries catch tax cheats hiding their money there appears to have hardened Europe’s resolve to force change. “If a car is stolen in Germany and taken to Switzerland, the Swiss help find it,” said Hans Eichel, a member of the German Parliament and a former finance minister. “But when it’s about tax evasion — and much larger sums — they do nothing. No one outside Switzerland understands that.” …European officials believe they can seize this moment to rally public opinion against the Swiss, German officials said. France, which will take over the rotating presidency of the European Union in the second half of this year, has agreed to take up the issue. …The concept of bank secrecy is deeply rooted in Switzerland, akin to the confidentiality rules governing doctors and lawyers in other countries, and a 1934 law makes it a crime for bankers to disclose client information. For foreigners, this combination is an effective shield against authorities at home. …Hans-Rudolf Merz, the Swiss finance minister, has brushed aside notions that Switzerland will water down banking confidentiality, a cornerstone of the financial system. Jean-Michel Treyvaud, a spokesman for Mr. Merz, called the debate “a media phenomenon” and declined an interview request.