No Child Left Behind.

[Kat Kanning]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Child_Left_Behind

[Russell Kanning]

Wouldn't it be cool to have a note at the bottom of that wikipedia page saying that Utah or NH has rejected the Fed program?

[tracysaboe]

I didn't think NH opted out of it. I know their was a bill that was going to reject the Federal funds, but I didn't think it passed. I know Utah, did leave the No Child Left Behind Act behind though. good for them.

Tracy

[Russell Kanning]

It is wishful thinking on my part....I believe Utah is just contemplating it....they haven't actually done it.

[Dreepa]

Here is a pretty good website for all things 'left behind'

http://www.projectappleseed.org/

[ravelkinbow]

Speaking of "no child left behind"  does NH have a required test to graduate like Mass has.  We call it the MCAS test.  I was just curious.

[LiveFreeOrDie]

Speaking of "no child left behind"  does NH have a required test to graduate like Mass has.  We call it the MCAS test.  I was just curious.

Kind of.  It's called NECAP (New England Common Assessment Program).  It was adopted recently to "comply" with NCLB.  The prior assessment was called NHEIAP (New Hampshire Educational Improvement and Assessment Program).

http://www.ed.state.nh.us/education/doe/organization/curriculum/Assessment/PressRelease04.htm

"For example, his department is working with other states in developing the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP), assessments that will replace NHEIAP and are scheduled to begin in the fall of 2005.  NECAP will be given to all students in grades three through eight in New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.  Donohue said the design of this new assessment will allow officials to look at trends in school data and track individual student results year after year.  The current NHEIAP tests annually track third, sixth and tenth grades, versus the year to year progress of each student."

Pilot test gets lukewarm reception
http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/news/5102.html

[ravelkinbow]

Thanks, I was curious to know.

[cathleeninnh]

I really want to thank the great group of NH natives we have here bringing us up to speed. Learning  what exists here and the history behind it has really shortened the learning curve for us.

Cathleen

[Russell Kanning]

That is so true...I have started to take it for granted that we get all the background on laws and such.

[Kat Kanning]

NEA, School Districts Fight No Child Law

By BEN FELLER, AP Education Writer

WASHINGTON - The nation's largest teachers union and school districts in three states Wednesday launched a legal fight over No Child Left Behind, aiming to free schools from complying with any part of the education law not paid for by the federal government.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for eastern Michigan, is the most sweeping challenge to President Bush's signature education policy. The outcome would apply only to the districts involved but could have implications for all schools nationwide.

Leading the fight is the National Education Association, a union of 2.7 million members that represents many public educators and is financing the lawsuit. The other plaintiffs are nine school districts in Michigan, Texas and Vermont, plus 10 NEA chapters in those three states and Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Utah.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, as the chief officer of the agency that enforces the law, is the only defendant. The suit centers on a question that has overshadowed the law since Bush signed it in 2002: whether the president and Congress have provided enough money.

The challenge is built upon one paragraph in the law that says no state or school district can be forced to spend its money on expenses the federal government has not covered.

"What it means is just what it says ? that you don't have to do anything this law requires unless you receive federal funds to do it," said NEA general counsel Bob Chanin.

"We want the Department of Education to simply do what Congress told it to do. There's a promise in that law, it's unambiguous, and it's not being complied with."

The plaintiffs want a judge to order that states and schools don't have to spend their own money to pay for the law's expenses ? and order the Education Department not to try to yank federal money from a state or school that refuses to comply based on those grounds.

Spending on No Child Left Behind programs has increased 40 percent since Bush took office, from $17.4 billion to $24.4 billion, federal figures show.

Responding to the suit, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush has overseen "historic levels of funding" and a commitment to holding schools to high standards. States are making strong achievement gains under the law, and Spellings has made it clear she will help state leaders as long as they are making proven progress under the law, Perino said.

Yet the suit accuses the government of shortchanging schools by at least $27 billion, the difference between the amount Congress authorized and what it has spent. The shortfall is even larger, the suit says, if the figures include all promised funding for poor children.

The suit, citing a series of cost studies, outlines billions of dollars in expenses to meet the law's mandates. They include the costs of adding yearly testing, getting all children up to grade level in reading and math, and ensuring teachers are highly qualified.

To cover those costs, the suit says, states have shifted money away from such other priorities as foreign languages, art and smaller classes. The money gap has hurt schools' ability to meet progress goals, which in turn has damaged their reputations, the suit says.

Plaintiffs include the Pontiac School District in Michigan, the Laredo Independent School District in Laredo, Texas; the Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union in Brandon, Vt.; and six of the school districts that are part of Rutland Northeast in south central Vermont.

The NEA promised to bring the suit almost two years ago and began recruiting states to be plaintiffs. But the union found no takers ? in part because states had no firm cost estimates, and in part because states were wary of the political fallout of suing the federal government.

More than a dozen states, however, are considering anti-No Child Left Behind legislation this year. On Tuesday, the Utah Legislature passed a measure giving state education standards priority over federal ones imposed by No Child Left Behind.

The school districts involved in the lawsuit give the NEA the diversity it wanted, from rural Vermont students to limited-English learners in Laredo to poor students in Pontiac. In the suit, Spellings is accused of violating both the education law and the spending clause of the U.S. Constitution.

The NEA and the Bush administration have had a testy relationship.

When the union first promised the lawsuit, then-Education Secretary Rod Paige accused the NEA of putting together a "coalition of the whining." He later referred to the NEA as a "terrorist organization" for the way it opposed the law, a comment for which he later apologized.

[tracysaboe]

The NEA's good for something?

Well, I'll be a winged elephant.

Actually didn't the NH legislature vote to not accept funding for NCLB and then the state wouldn't have had to even comply with any of the mandates? From what I understand the house passed it, but the senate didn't.

This was a couple years ago. Perhaps such a bill could get reserected?


Tracy

[Kat Kanning]

Judge Tosses Out NCLB Education Lawsuit

By TONI LOCY, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 33 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - A judge threw out a lawsuit Wednesday that sought to block the No Child Left Behind law,
President Bush's signature education policy. The National Education Association said it would appeal.
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The NEA and school districts in three states had argued that schools should not have to comply with requirements that were not paid for by the federal government.

Chief U.S. District Judge Bernard A. Friedman, based in eastern Michigan, said, "Congress has appropriated significant funding" and has the power to require states to set educational standards in exchange for federal money.

The NEA, a union of 2.7 million members and often a political adversary of the administration, had filed the suit along with districts in Michigan, Vermont and Bush's home state of Texas, plus 10 NEA chapters in those states and Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Utah.

The school districts had argued that the law is costing them more than they are receiving in federal funding.

The law requires states to revise academic standards and develop tests to measure students' progress annually. If students fail to make progress, the law requires states to take action against school districts.

Reg Weaver, president of the NEA, said his group would appeal.

"Parents in communities where school districts are financially strained were promised that this law would close the achievement gaps," he said. "Instead, their tax dollars are being used to cover unpaid bills sent from Washington for costly regulations that do not help improve education."

The lawsuit alleged that there was a gap between federal funding and the cost of complying with the law. Illinois, for example, will spend $15.4 million annually to meet the law's requirements on curriculum and testing but will receive $13 million a year, the lawsuit said.

Friedman said that the law "cannot reasonably be interpreted to prohibit Congress itself from offering federal funds on the condition that states and school districts comply with the many statutory requirements, such as devising and administering tests, improving test scores and training teachers."

Education Secretary
Margaret Spellings said, "This is a victory for children and parents all across the country. Chief Judge Friedman's decision validates our partnership with states to close the achievement gap, hold schools accountable and to ensure all students are reading and doing math at grade-level by 2014."

[KBCraig]

The NEA and the government are opponents on the same side.

They both have one goal: "Give all the money to us, and leave us in charge of your children."

[EZPass]

NCLB is the feds approach to getting into local taxpayers pocket books.  They want to direct education from DC.