(URGENT) Obama's Flawed Plan to Overhaul the Education System

Within the past several days we have seen now President Barack Obama galavant in-front of the national media and profess numerous plans and conferences to resolve some key issue that have plagued (yes, I do agree they need to change) the United States for years upon years. One of such issues for which President Obama has recently taken to the bully pulpit with is his plan for a reformation if you will of the Education System. Obama's education reform plan has what he calls a "five-tier plan" but the way I and many analyst see it, is it is not a plan to overhaul but rather a plan to destroy the educational qualities that are inherent in the current system.
The first tier of President Obama's education reform plan is to increase investments into early-childhood education intiatives. Within this first tier, Obama plans on increasing funding to programs such as Head Start, also to increase funding for a "student health" initiative, and he also plans to establish the "Early Learning Challenge" grant which will "help" states fund initiatives which target early-development. My comments on this tier of his plans are as follow: (1) Let's quit labeling Head Start as an initiative, all it really is is an earmark in the federal budget that is used by the Democrats to gain electoral support from minorities who are the predominant users of the Head Start program. The Head Start program, I believe, should not be a pivotal part of any form of education reform, although successful as an organization, I think that initiatives should be created to deal with the education defecencies within each individual state because at the state level educational issues are different and in some instances even range from school district to school district. (2) The idea of an increase in spending for student health is by no means necessary in any effort to reform the educational system and is nothing more than increased federal spending and regulation in order to move the nation closer to Socialized Medicine (yes, I said it, Socialized). (3) I kind of like the idea of "Early Learning Challenge" grants however I have one question as well as a statement. My question is will this be new spending or spending out of allready appropriated funds for such messure. My comment is that I beleive that these grants should not be shafted by means of regualtion by the federal government, with each state there are different issues and ways of which schooling services are performed and thus grants should be given but with few strings attached.
The second tier of Obama's plan is reform to the testing standards throughout the nation, as to allow for an increased emphasis on 21st century skills. My comments on this tier of Obama's plans are as follows: (1) I agree that testing student's throughout the nation is a necessary thing and needs to be done in order to more effectively target schools and school districts which need increased assistance and oversight (not by federal but rather state entities). (2) I however will not endorse anykind of attempt to nationalized the testing process. (3) I also believe that if the national government want to get involved in state administered test standards then the federal government needs to subsidize state mandated testing.
The third tier of the president's plan is to focus on teacher training and recruitment. Obama believes in a merit based incentive program for teachers, as well as the firing of teachers who underperform and lack in effective teaching capabilites. My comments are as follows: (1) I agree with the idea of teacher recruitment, training, and the idea of firing of underperforming teachers. I however do not agree with any form of merit based pay as the federal government has no authority to regulate teacher pay standards, and does not and will not pay or subsidize any type of merit based pay system.
The fourth tier of President Obama's Education reform plan is to require a longer school year (WHAT THE HELL). My comments are as follows (I will just list statements and not rant to much on the underlying issue): (1) What about schools in the Southern US where during the summer A/C energy costs go through the roof due to 100+ degree temeperature, I dont think the government is going to pay for the electricity and gas bills of the schools and the school districts cant afford those high bills. (2) What about teacher pay? Teachers will stand up with their Unions and demand higher pay for a longer period of work. (3) What about professional developement, when are any of the teachers going to have time to due the additional developement required of this reform package, they certainly wont have time during the summer when they normally do it. (4) MONEY MONEY MONEY, enough said.
The fifth and final tier of Obama's plan is to promote higher education with higher levels of Pell Grants, as well as Tution Tax Credits. My only comment on this is as follows; why spend money in order to promote education if that money goes to financially needy students rather than academically competitve students, the goverment isnt promoting greatness in the minds of America but rather is promoting financially needy people to attempt at the idea of college, who knows if that person who got the grant will make it through his/her first year.
I leave you with a plan and a question: Can you see any other problems with this reform package and if so what is it and how could it affect the nation as well as individual states?