"In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made school boards."

In 1897 Mark Twain wrote that and it came to mind last week as I read former Cardiff School Board member, Francine Busby's editorial criticizing Rep. Brian Bilbray for supporting an effort to hold public schools in California accountable for the progress, or lack thereof, made by students with learning disabilities. She said, "One of the most-needed changes (is the need to) waive the requirement that test scores for students with learning disabilities … be included in determining the overall performance of a school."

She'd rather we marginalize kids with special and unique challenges by not including their success or failure in the schools assessments, as required of all other students. The idea that's its better to lower standards in order to have a shiny gold star on the front door, come what may, is short-sighted.

Without participation, there is no accountability nor will attention be paid to needed improvements in the achievement of these students, essentially, shortchanging them and setting them up for failure in college and life. It also minimizes the responsibility of teachers and administrators, ironically, the "praise-for-no-reason" crowd, for their progress.

Admittedly, The No Child Left Behind initiative has its flaws, first and foremost that it does not set forth "national" standards, instead leaving that to the states, where standards are all over the board. But liberals like Busby who trash it should answer one question, name one sector where accountability has been removed yet the results improved? She can wail all she wants about the need to "support our schools" but when they fail at teaching our most vulnerable children to read, her impulse is to wonder whether the expectation level for schools should be re-evaluated. Most Americans would agree, we need to set the bar higher, not lower.

For the past seven years, there's been considerable progress in many states as a result of NCLB.

Most learning disabled students are capable of learning at grade level if taught well, and parents of these kids want them to be included in accountability measures so schools will be motivated to teach their kids. It is clear schools will face challenges in implementing NCLB for students with disabilities, but these challenges should be met, not removed altogether.

We elect our leaders because we think they have good judgment and values that match our own, I for one, don't trust Busby's judgment about North County Schools.

I would expect Busby to care more about these challenged children than the label the school receives. In her desperate attempt to trash Bilbray, she has done us all a favor by being candid about her position about whether schools should be held accountable or not for the progress of these students.

Placing high demands on kids reminds them that they are expected to do things with their lives. Low expectations lead to low performance.

SUNANA BATRA writes from Encinitas. Reach her at sunanabatra@gmail.com.