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3/1/2005 Opposition is Growing to Federal 'No Child Left Behind' Program By Tom Still MADISON – Utah is about as red as a "red state" can be. It is so thoroughly Republican that Democratic candidates for public office are as outnumbered as Irish tenors in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Yet if you're looking for a state where frustration over President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" program is running at a fever pitch, you need look no further than Utah, where the state Legislature is preparing to pass a bill that would pre-empt the increasingly unpopular federal education law. The coming legislative action in Utah is symbolic of a growing national pushback against No Child Left Behind, which was once the well-intentioned centerpiece of Bush's education platform. Four years ago, No Child Left Behind served as candidate Bush's lead domestic issue, underscoring his claim to "compassionate conservatism." It was politically popular, at first, because it aimed at closing the achievement gap between whites and minorities by threatening public schools with punishment unless they improved the academic performance of all students. The law is intended to improve the quality of the teaching corps at poor schools, to steadily raise student achievement, and to measure that improvement through test scores in reading, math and science. Today, the law is under attack by many Republicans and Democrats alike. The latest round of criticism comes from a bipartisan panel that spent nearly a year studying No Child Left Behind, holding hearings in six cities. The commission convened by the National Conference of State Legislatures, which includes 3,657 Republicans and 3,656 Democrats as members, described the law as flawed, convoluted and unconstitutional. The 77-page report said No Child Left Behind has undermined school reform efforts that were already underway in many states, posed unnecessary bureaucratic requirements, failed to provide enough money to get the work done, and generally usurped state and local control of public schools. "Under No Child Left Behind, the federal government's role has become excessively intrusive in the day-to-day operations of public education," the NCSL panel concluded. It's no surprise that an organization of state legislators would get its dander up over federal rules that infringe on the constitutional rights of states. Conversely, it's no surprise that Bush and many others have grown impatient with the ability of the states to improve public education, which is sometimes viewed as the most change-resistant institution in American society. Here is how the law works: For targeted schools that fail to improve each year between now and 2014, the consequences can range from "school improvement plans" to state takeover. Students in consistently underperforming schools are also promised a way out, through transfer or private tutoring. In states such as Georgia and Maryland, the law is being credited with closing the gap in reading scores and improving schools. Wisconsin, to its credit, ranks in the top one-third of states in terms of meeting the requirements posed by No Child Left Behind. In other states, however, the schools that are facing consequences under the federal law are not necessarily the schools that perform the worst on national tests. An easily documented complaint is the law's unfulfilled promise to find alternatives for kids in poor schools. In Los Angeles, which has some of the nation's most overcrowded schools, most students who had the right to transfer had no place to go. There were 270,000 Chicago children eligible to transfer, 19,000 signed up for a lottery and 1,097 won the right to move. Across the nation, 67,000 students out of 1.2 million eligible transferred out of underperforming schools and another 113,000 received free tutoring. The law will come up for reauthorization in Congress in 2007, meaning it will become an election year issue in 2006. It's unlikely the Bush administration will abandon the law, but Republican and Democrat state lawmakers from across the country are hoping to persuade Congress to make changes before then. Not everything about No Child Left Behind is bad; on the contrary, it may be improving schools in states that have tried to live up to its intent. But there's no denying the act is a departure from 200 years of education policy, in which America's local school boards and state governments took the lead on public education. Federalism should be a partnership between Washington and the states, not a one-way street. --Still is president of the Wisconsin Technology Council. He is the former associate editor of the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison. |
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