Arizona Senate committee rejects NCLB opt-out bill
A state Senate panel has failed to pass a bill that would have Arizona opt out of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), but the measure will likely be revived on a vote. The Education Committee chair, Sen. Karen Johnson, R-Mesa, said she will have the panel reconsider House Bill 2392. Backers are confident they have enough votes to pass the measure. The bill, sponsored by Rep. David Schapira, D-Tempe, would make Arizona the first state in the nation to opt out of the federal program and its mandates. However, the bill has another opt-out clause, of sorts, because the state's withdrawal would be contingent on the Arizona Legislature backfilling whatever money the state would lose from not participating in the federal program. Arizona receives about $600 million a year from the program. Sen. Linda Gray, R-Glendale, said she doubted the Legislature would ever replace that amount of money, making the bill meaningless. And Sen. Tom O'Halleran, R-Sedona, called the bill a “political postcard” that would have no real effect in Arizona. “Maybe we should be sending a postcard to our own Legislature saying it needs to get its act together on education,” O'Halleran said.
Source: Arizona Republic, 4/2/08, By Mary Jo Pitzl
[Editor’s Note: For additional background on the Arizona legislation, as well as links to information on similar debates in Utah and Virginia, see below. The article from a couple of weeks ago at the second link reports on the warnings by Education Secretary Margaret Spellings and other Virginia officials about the consequences of opting out as Gov. Tim Kaine considers legislation passed by that state’s General Assembly. In 2004, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) responded to a Utah inquiry by setting forth the consequences opting out of NCLB would have for a state’s eligibility for other federal funding programs. That letter is at the third link.]
NSBA School Law pages on Arizona NCLB opt-out legislation
Hampton Roads Daily Press, 3/27/08, By Hugh Lessig
ED letter on financial implications of NCLB opt-out