04/08 -- In early February, more than 900 local school board members met with their congressional representatives to advance this year’s key federal priorities for America’s public school children.
The urgent need to fix the flaws in the No Child Left Behind Act this year was at the top of their list.
Overwhelmingly, lawmakers understand that, despite its positive attributes, the program as currently designed is significantly undermining the effective education of too many children. Far too many school districts are wasting limited staff and financial resources.
What some members don’t yet appreciate or perhaps care about are the reasons why it is urgent that the law be fixed now:
• If Congress puts off acting on NCLB until after the election, it probably won’t be until 2010 that the current law is fixed -- or “overhauled” as candidates on the campaign trail like to say.
Given that lawmakers know the negative impact that specific features of the law are having, their inaction this year should be unacceptable because that means better educational outcomes for schoolchildren in their district or state will be delayed for two school years.
• NCLB continuously raises the performance bar. Each year, this flawed system unfairly and unnecessarily pushes more and more schools and whole school districts into deeper, more costly, and overly broad sanctions. In other words, the problems of NCLB are not static but accelerating.
• The financial situation of school districts will become worse over the next year or two, as school districts experience state and local revenue contractions resulting from a weakening economy.
The impact of the housing slump on local property tax collections, which is the principal source of local school funding, is forcing districts to make cuts in programs that shouldn’t have to take a back seat to the educationally and financially dysfunctional provisions of this unfixed federal mandate.
The excuses for delay offered by some members of Congress run hollow. For example, we’ve heard the argument that the law shouldn’t be fixed until there is adequate funding. So does that mean we should perpetuate the educational design flaws for as long as the program is underfunded?
Other members have suggested waiting to see how the U.S. Department of Education acts on its promise to address some of the concerns administratively. But we’ve been hearing about these largely unfulfilled promises for six years.
Simply put, the department is both unwilling and unable to get beyond its narrow concept of education and education accountability. Especially in light of that minimalist track record, members of Congress have no excuse for sloughing their responsibility to address the basic problems in a law they created.
One senator even reasoned that since President Bush “might” veto a reauthorization bill if it contains significant changes, why bother fixing the law this year?
Given that bills haven’t actually been introduced, how can it be said that any problems with the White House can’t be worked out through the give-and-take of the legislative process? After all, NCLB is Bush’s signature domestic program and legacy.
Some members suggest that because this is an election year, not much can be done. Well, every other year is an election year. The voters did not hire a part-time Congress to act in alternate years.
While this presidential election year might be special, the primaries really haven’t prevented Congress from conducting business. If fixing NCLB is the priority that everybody says it is, there is plenty of time to act.
Finally, we have heard the excuse that NCLB would be addressed in a better fashion by a new administration -- one with less commitment to some of the flawed aspects of the program.
Here again, we don’t know unless we try, nor do we know what a new administration will do by comparison. What we do know is that what can be accomplished now will benefit students now, and remaining elements can be addressed later on.
The House and Senate education committee chairs have said they want to move the legislation this year, but they will need the bipartisan cooperation of their colleagues.
If members of Congress want to do something in education for their constituents this year, we say put aside the silly excuses that won’t resonate over time in the real world of local communities, and make this reauthorization happen now.
Reproduced with permission from School Board News. Copyright © 2008, National School Boards Association. Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect positions of NSBA. This article may be printed out and photocopied for individual or educational use, provided this copyright notice appears on each copy. This article may not be otherwise transmitted or reproduced in print or electronic form without the consent of the Publisher. For more information, call (703) 838-6789.