A New Law is Put To the Test
The No Child Left Behind Act, the federal education-reform bill signed into law just over two years ago, takes a carrot-and-stick approach to improving school performance. But the Somers School District in northern Connecticut has been so frustrated with the stick--the labeling and sanctions (including the possibility of state takeover) faced by schools that don't meet federal standards--that last year it rejected the carrot. After Somers High School was placed on an academic watch list for what local officials consider trivial reasons (it tested 94.3 percent of its students rather than the required 95 percent), the district refused some $45,000 in No Child Left Behind money. That's only a small fraction of the system's $15 million annual budget; school leaders say the extra funds just weren't worth the hassle. "To say the money comes with strings attached is an understatement," says Superintendent Thomas Jefferson. "It comes with ropes and anchors."
Somers is one of a growing number of districts and states rebelling against the new education law, which President Bush championed with bipartisan support. The legislation requires not only annual testing but also score breakdowns by race and socioeconomic status to ensure that schoolwide averages don't mask failure for some groups. It also calls for students in failing schools to receive money for outside tutoring or to be given the option of transferring elsewhere.
Educators don't quarrel with the goal of boosting student achievement, but many resent the way the law is being implemented. Legislators in over a dozen states--including Maine, Virginia, and Washington--have passed or are considering symbolic resolutions calling for more flexibility and funding under the 700-page law. Critics, including many Republican state legislators who aren't typically at odds with the Bush administration, have a litany of objections, notably the law's heavy costs and what they view as its infringement on local control.
For its part, the Bush administration has taken steps to stop the backlash. It has eased accountability requirements for non-English-speaking and disabled students, thus lowering the number of schools that will be labeled as failing. But it has also warned states that if they drop out of the program, all of their federal education funding for disadvantaged kids--not just No Child Left Behind grants--will be cut. That could mean a revenue loss of almost 15 percent in some poorer districts.
Still, the protests are likely to continue. This year, some 6,000 schools were labeled "in need of improvement." That number could increase to 25,000, or about one third of the nation's schools, as more of the law's accountability standards kick in over the next two years. Says Diane Rentner, deputy director of the nonpartisan Center on Education Policy: "The big fights have yet to come." -Ulrich Boser
This story appears in the March 22, 2004 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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