By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org

WASHINGTON – Maybe Sen. Lamar Alexander has a point.

On Saturday, the Tennessee Republican accused the Democrats of wanting to create a “national school board” that would effectively manage all K-12 schools from Washington D.C.

MORE NEWS: From Classroom to Consulate Chef: Culinary Student Lands Dream Job at U.S. Embassy in Paris

“If you remember the childhood game, ‘Mother, May I?’ then you have a pretty good sense of how the process works – states must come to Washington for approval of their plans to educate their students,” Alexander said during the GOP’s radio address last week, according to Newsmax.

Just three days later, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan confirmed those fears – albeit unwittingly.

On Tuesday, Duncan announced that he is allowing states to petition the federal government for a one-year delay in implementing school reforms that were promised in return for a No Child Left Behind waiver, the Associated Press reports.

“Thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia have earned permission from the Education Department to ignore parts of the No Child Left Behind education law in exchange for school improvement plans,” the AP reports. “As part of those plans, many states have linked student performance on standardized tests with teacher evaluations.”

If granted, the waiver would give states until 2016 to activate their promised reforms.

Duncan’s decision is a win for the nation’s teacher union members, who expressed concern about having their job performance ratings tied to standardized tests based on the new Common Core learning standards.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

The waivers will give teachers and students a “grace period” to “become familiar” with the experimental Common Core standards in English and math, the news organization reports.

Randi Weingarten and Dennis Van Roekel – the nation’s top two teacher union bosses – praised Duncan’s decision.

Sen. Alexander had a decidedly different reaction.

“If anyone is looking for further proof that our education system is congested with federal mandates, the education secretary is now granting waivers from waivers,” Alexander told the AP. “The waivers were meant to give states relief from unworkable requirements, but the education secretary put so many conditions on states that now the waivers are unworkable.”

States have until Sept. 30 to beseech the federal overseers for another year of grace.