Funding (and explaining) 'No child left behind' in Utah

By Raynie Paxton

November 17, 2004 | The No Child Left Behind Act was a bipartisan project introduced to close the achievement gap, making sure all students, teachers, and parents are held accountable. Studies have shown, according to the White House website, that a third of all college freshman are required to take remedial classes before they can get into many college courses, and 70 percent of inner city fourth graders are unable to read at the national reading level.

According to President Bush, "education is primarily a state and local responsibility, the federal government is partly at fault for tolerating these abysmal results," therefore introduced the NCLB.

Congress has created many programs "intended to address problems in education without asking whether or not the programs produce results or knowing their impact on local needs," at a cost of $120 billion a year, Bush said. In reaction to these disappointing results, many people have decided that there should be no federal involvement in education, he said.

A blueprint for President Bush's education reform can be found at WhiteHouse.gov.

According to President Bush, states are "granted unprecedented flexibility by this proposal in how they spend federal education funds, accountability for students is expected in return, states will submit plans that address specific accountability requirements."

In this blueprint, states must develop a system of sanctions and rewards and hold districts accountable for improving academic achievement. School report cards will be available to parents, empowering them to make choices of where their children will attend school. Schools that fail to make sufficient progress may receive special assistance, and children won't be forced to attend failing schools. Victims of school-based crimes or students trapped in dangerous schools will be provided with safe alternatives.

According to the Department of Education, as of August 2003, 44 states reported no dangerous schools, 52 schools made the list from six states; Pennsylvania, Nevada, New Jersey, Texas, New York, and Oregon.

Schools that have not produced progress for one academic year will be identified as needing improvement; subsequently these schools will receive assistance to improve. Guidelines must be met after two years or corrective action will be initiated and other public or private school choices are offered to all students in the failing school.

Full accountability means 100 percent, which includes disadvantaged and non-English speaking students. "Schools that fail to make yearly progress for disadvantaged students will first receive assistance, and then come under corrective action if they still fail to make progress. If schools fail to make adequate yearly progress for three consecutive years, disadvantaged students may use Title I funds to transfer to a higher performing public or private school," Bush said.

Overall outcomes that President Bush aspires in his agenda includes the reduction of huge bureaucracies, increases in technology funds, enlarging state and local flexibility options, rewards from closing the achievement gap, ensure every child reads by the 3rd grade, one-time bonuses for states who meet accountability requirements, and ultimately imposed consequences for failure.

The overwhelming view from Utah teachers is that these federal initiatives are not backed with enough money, that the NCLB imposes costly new obligations without providing the funds needed. Resources for teaching disadvantaged and non English-speaking children are much higher as well.

With the NCLB, teachers are able to make tax deductions of up to $400 for out-of-pocket expenses. The American Civil Liberties Union says that the average teacher spends $600-$1,000, just on "basic" teaching supplies.

In Utah, former school superintendent Steven O. Laing said "full compliance could cost Utah $1 billion a year, or about 10 times more than the state receives in federal funding for the program."

However, Ron Tomalis, who oversees secondary and elementary education for the U.S. Department of Education, said the NCLB provided enough funds for Utah, and that the law gives states flexibility to set their own academic standards.
The chairman of the House of Education and Workforce Committee, John Boehner, R-Ohio, agreed. "The law doesn't lack funding," it only lacks the will on the part of the school districts, he said.

Tom Daschle, Senate Democratic leader, said that the NCLB initially enjoyed "overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress," but the "Administration has often acted in a heavy-handed manner, and it has failed to provide schools the resources they need to make sure that every child is given the opportunity to learn," as a result, the NCLB now receives a growing backlash.

"This is not a partisan issue," said Daschle, "a good deal of the criticism is coming from Republican lawmakers." For instance, the House in Utah voted 64-8, not to comply with the NCLB, for which the federal government has not supplied enough money.
Officials had put on a "full-court press at the Utah Capitol, trying to salvage support for the law, and warned the state it could lose its annual federal education funding, or nearly $107 million," said a report from the <I>Salt Lake Tribune.</I>

Both Utah gubernatorial candidates also spoke out against the NCLB.

Jon Huntsman Jr., the Republican, said that the NCLB should be "jettisoned out of the classroom. This is an area where I part company with my own president. We can amend it here and there, but I'm not sure we want to live in a world where they are looking over our shoulders."

Democrat Scott Matheson Jr., said "During the course of implementation, it imposed a lot of burdensome and unnecessary mandates on our schools. The problem with No Child Left Behind is it has built-in assumptions that just don't fit the circumstances."

According to Daschle, the President has recommended under-funding the NCLB by $26.5 billion, and the proposed budget for next year is $9.4 billion less than what the law promises.

"The President's education budget doesn't leave no child behind -- it leaves 4.6 million children behind," said Daschle. He said that accountability must work both ways.

The Center on Education Policy has issued a report on spending for major education programs and the President's 2005 budget request. According to this report, the President proposes for 2005, no increase in funding for after school programs, teacher quality, technology grants, safe and drug free schools, English language acquisition, and in fact only proposes a 3 percent total increase for programs such as state assessments and reading first.

The President's budget, according to the CEP, would eliminate $124 million in funding for regional education laboratories, comprehensive regional assistance centers, and other technical assistance entities and instead creates "Comprehensive Centers" funded at $27 million.

A complete chart of the President's budget proposal is available at the U.S. Department of Education.

Many parents aren't informed of the complexities and benefits of the NCLB. The Department of Education provides a comprehensive Parents Guide to educate parents and communities on the NCLB.

However, Nancy Parker, a Cache Valley resident and parent of five, said that when she attended school she feels she didn't start learning much until the seventh grade. She feels that her kids are much more advanced when it comes to reading. Her kids participate in the accelerated reader tests, where they are tested on their comprehension of books they read. "My 4th grade son is reading and understanding books that I read in the seventh grade." She attributes this to the NCLB reading requirements.

For most committed teachers, it has always been their intention to leave no child behind; the only difference now? It is enforced, said Catherine Ermer, elementary education teacher from Cache Valley.

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