NCLB debate becoming increasingly politicized

01/20/04 -- Two years after the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was signed into law with bipartisan fanfare, the debate around this landmark law is increasingly becoming politicized.

President Bush used the second anniversary of the signing of NCLB into law to talk about the law's accomplishments. Meanwhile most of the Democratic candidates for president have been stepping up their criticism of NCLB. Several state and local school leaders have called for major changes to the law.

A few school districts have even opted out of Title I funding, and the Reading, Pa., school district filed a legal challenge against the state for failing to provide sufficient money to implement the law.

"Unless funding and several operational miscues in NCLB are addressed, more school districts could drop out of the program," says NSBA Associate Executive Director Michael A. Resnick.

"If these concerns continue," he says, "public opinion about NCLB could become polarized around election-year politics -- not the laudable goals that the law should serve." [For a description of several of the changes NSBA is seeking to NCLB, see page 5.]

At a forum on NCLB at West View Elementary School in Knoxville, Tenn., Jan. 8 President Bush said: "It is essential for this country to have a public education system that responds to the needs of every child so that we can meet great objectives for this country. . . . The future of the country depends on our capacity to educate every child."

Bush praised Principal Melvenia Smith for West View's progress in raising student achievement. On last year's state tests, 82 percent of third graders scored at the proficient level in reading and math.

"NCLB promises a more just, equitable society -- one in which all our nation's students will be given the attention they deserve, regardless of skin color, accent, or zip code," U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige said at the forum.

"The roots of this revolutionary reform are taking hold, as we've seen by the number of positive changes the law has wrought and the number of lives it has touched," Paige says. "Over the coming years, that tree of knowledge will continue to grow and blossom."

During a visit to Pierre Laclede Elementary School in St. Louis, Bush said: "We've got to stop this business about just shuffling kids through the schools in America. We've got to stop social promotion in America and focus on whether or not each child is getting the instruction he or she needs."

At Laclede, 80 percent of third-graders can read at grade level, compared to 7 percent in 1999. "That speaks to strong principals, it speaks to really good teachers," Bush says. "It says this school has got teachers that believe in the capacity of every child. It says the school has raised standards and is not afraid to measure."

Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean responded to Bush's remarks on NCLB by saying, "President Bush has no problem finding money for lavish tax breaks for millionaires or over $150 billion for his misguided war in Iraq. But when it comes to fully funding his NCLB mandates, schools are out of luck."

Dean, former governor of Vermont, criticized NCLB for focusing on "rigid and unrealistic mandates, incentives for lowering standards, burdensome sanctions, over-reliance on testing, and demoralizing labels."

Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), during a campaign stop in Iowa Jan. 6, said he doesn't regret voting for NCLB, but says it was wrong to have had "faith that this president would support his own education bill." According to Edwards, "We need to fix it, and we need to change it, and we need to fund it."

Calling NCLB "a failure," retired Gen. Wesley Clark says NCLB "imposes new mandates on states and local communities, but doesn't give them the resources they need to succeed. It focuses too narrowly on tests and punishments, and too little on ensuring that every child can learn and succeed."

Meanwhile, some of the Democratic members of Congress whose support for NCLB secured its passage, are stepping up their criticism of the Administration's failure to propose sufficient funding.

Democrats contend the omnibus appropriations bill, up for a vote in Congress this month would underfund Title I and other programs by $7.5 billion.

Bush, meanwhile, insists education funding is growing. During the Knoxville visit, he announced the Administration's budget proposal for fiscal year 2005 will include a $1 billion increase for Title I, a $1 billion increase for special education, $50 million for school choice, and a fourfold increase for Reading First and Early Reading First.

Administration officials charged on Jan. 8 that the states actually failed to spend $5.75 billion in federal education funds they received between 2000 and 2002.

Acting Deputy Secretary of Education Eugene Hickok questions why states are complaining about not having enough money to implement NCLB, when they "haven't accessed the dollars they have."

Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), two of the principal sponsors of NCLB, fought back, stating, "Claiming that schools have more money than they know what to do with is like calling Enron a profitable company."

"Schools across the country are being forced to lay off teachers, eliminate after-school activities, and reduce school hours because of drastic budget shortfalls," Miller and Kennedy say.

"Every dime" of education funding has been obligated, they say. "Schools have submitted plans to spend all the funds Congress has appropriated. The bottleneck is in the Department of Education, and schools are desperate."