Our society faces a marked crisis in the economy, the banking system, government, politics, families, communities and in schools.

All children deserve a good education to participate in our democracy. Lack of education is a ticket to economic hardship. The more years of school a student completes, the more money they are likely to earn as adults, the better their chance to get and keep a good job and they are more likely to participate in our electoral process.

Unemployment is highest among school dropouts, as is incarceration for crimes and nonvoting.

California’s schools have fallen significantly behind the national averages in reading, math and school funding since the 1978 passage of Proposition 13, particularly the schools in low-income areas. The current state budget cut backs make matters worse. We need to invest in urban schools, provide equal educational opportunities in these schools and recruit a well prepared teaching force that begins to reflect the student populations in these schools.

President Bush worked with political leaders in both parties to pass the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. NCLB made assessment-based reform (testing) and accountability the central components of a new national policy on school reform. The results of NCLB and the accountability drive are now in: Like Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, NCLB has been a dismal failure.

On national tests given by the U.S. Department of Education, student achievement is either flat, as in 8th grade reading, or has improved less than in the days prior to NCLB. NCLB is bad policy because it is punitive to schools rather than assisting them in improvement. It has caused nearly 40 percent of the nation’s schools to be labeled “failing,” and by 2014, over 90 percent of schools will be declared to be failing.

It is dysfunctional to not recognize the differences between really failing schools and schools that are doing quite well. Under NCLB when a school is struggling, there is little assistance, just more tests, more punishment: fire the staff; close the school; turn the school over to private entrepreneurs (profiteers) , etc.

NCLB testing has not improved schools, improved school funding nor improved teaching.

NCLB and its state equivalents argue that the education system should operate primarily in service of the economic system. This is a business model of public schools, and we can see how well business is currently operating in the finance, credit and banking system. This corporate view of school reform -called neo liberalism in economics- dominates the media and the government.

A substantial opposition to the re-authorization of NCLB developed in 2008. Its passage was blocked in Congress. NCLB will be re-written and re-authorized in 2009 by the 537 members of Congress and the 15,000-plus corporate lobbyists at work in Washington.

NCLB testing does not, unfortunately, provide teachers with useful information on what to do to improve student learning and instruction. According National Assessment of Education Progress reading scores for California, we rank right along with Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and the District of Columbia – at the bottom.

The NAEP results are important because schools and teachers can drill for the state tests, but NAEP measures against national standard of whether children can actually read. In California, with its large English Language Learner population, there has been no measured improvement in scores by ELL students. At the same time, the U.S. has one of the highest rates of high school drop outs in the industrialized world as well as one of the highest rates of incarceration for young people, particularly African American and Latino males.

The Bush Administration used NCLB sanctions including shifting money from public schools to private charters to respond to failing to raise test scores. The Obama Administration has appointed Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education and Russylynn Ali as director of the Civil Rights division of the department. Both unfortunately believe that more testing, not less testing, will improve schools.

The U.S. spends less per student than 16 other modern industrialized countries. And, California spends less per pupil than 47 other states when you adjust the figures for cost of living differences. The recent California budget crisis, where schools were again cut by more than $11.6 billion, demonstrates the current failure of the political system to adequately fund some of our schools.

Let us be clear about the reality of schools in our state and in our nation – most middle-class schools work rather well. Most schools in low-income areas, however, are unable to provide equal educational opportunity. There will be no significant change in the quality of urban education without substantial new funds allocated to these schools. In the current economic crisis, while federal funds are being added, state funds, over 80% of the education budget, are being cut. There will be no substantial school reform under these budget conditions.

When schools succeed for the middle-class and fail for working-class students and students of color, schools contribute to a crippling division along economic and racial lines in our society.

Duane Campbell is professor emeritus of multicultural education and author of “Choosing Democracy: a practical guide to multicultural education” ( 4th. ed. 2010).