Epicurus
01-31-2004, 09:20 AM
Nelson: Let schools opt out of federal education law
BY MARGERY BECK / The Associated Press
OMAHA -- It's a common complaint among public school officials. If the federal government is going to force schools to make expensive changes in improving education, they say, it should at least pony up the money to do it.
Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Dick Durbin of Illinois have been listening. On Thursday, Nelson signed on to a measure (S.1189) introduced by Durbin. The bill would allow states to opt out of some corrective requirements of the sweeping No Child Left Behind law if the federal government does not fully fund the program.
"It is fundamentally unfair for the federal government to impose costly new regulations and burdens and then leave the states holding the bag," Nelson said.
Under No Child Left Behind, poorly performing schools face a litany of measures they must take to improve. Examples include requirements for districts with struggling schools to pay for student tutoring and to transfer students to better performing schools within the district.
If a poorly performing school fails to improve over six years, the district can be required to fully restaff it.
"This law was passed to create a crisis and to paint an inaccurate picture of public schools," said Omaha Public School Superintendent John Mackiel, who praised Nelson's support of the bill. "There is something wrong with a law that punishes a school. We're moving into a punishment mode ... and it is truly, truly misguided."
Even districts not performing poorly are spending millions to comply with the law -- expenses that already strapped schools and states can't afford alone, Mackiel said.
Omaha Public Schools has spent about $40 a student -- or about $1.8million districtwide -- just to meet the student testing requirements of the law, he said.
"Those are resources that could better be spent in terms of reading assessment," Mackiel said.
Mackiel's district is Nebraska's largest with some 46,000 students. It is leading a lawsuit against the state challenging Nebraska's school funding structure. Twenty-six schools in Mackiel's district were considered failing under federal standards in the 2001-2002 year, but have since improved enough to be removed from the state's list of failing schools.
This is not the first time Nelson has beat the drum of federal funding responsibility for the education reform law. In 2001, Nelson and former Missouri Sen. Jean Carnahan tried to amend the reform bill to require the federal government to pay all the costs associated with it.
Nelson and Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., later voted against implementing the reform law, citing fears of soaring costs to states.
"States have made tremendous strides in meeting the accountability standards ... but the federal government has yet to do its part and provide the funding called for under the law," Nelson said. "The federal government should not be allowed to skip out on the education bill."
Hagel said Thursday he had not seen the measure but planned to read it before offering his support.
"It sounds like it would make sense to me," Hagel said.
But the bill is simply another way to avoid implementing much-needed education reform, said Dr. Thomas Jandris, president of Chicago-based school performance assessment company Progress Education and a key developer of the No Child Left Behind law.
It's also unlikely to pass in an election year, Jandris said.
"I just think they're going to have a tough row to hoe, because the Bush administration feels this is kind of a legacy piece of legislation they got through," he said.
"No matter how carefully worded their bill is ... whoever supports it will be painted as soft on accountability."
Copyright © 2003, Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved.
This content may not be archived or used for commercial purposes without written permission from the Lincoln Journal Star.
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402 475-4200 • feedback@journalstar.com
http://65.54.168.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=2d6725becb208fb2e57646c6375b13c5&lat=1075561737&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ejournalstar%2ecom%2 flocal%2ephp%3fstory_id%3d118581
BY MARGERY BECK / The Associated Press
OMAHA -- It's a common complaint among public school officials. If the federal government is going to force schools to make expensive changes in improving education, they say, it should at least pony up the money to do it.
Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Dick Durbin of Illinois have been listening. On Thursday, Nelson signed on to a measure (S.1189) introduced by Durbin. The bill would allow states to opt out of some corrective requirements of the sweeping No Child Left Behind law if the federal government does not fully fund the program.
"It is fundamentally unfair for the federal government to impose costly new regulations and burdens and then leave the states holding the bag," Nelson said.
Under No Child Left Behind, poorly performing schools face a litany of measures they must take to improve. Examples include requirements for districts with struggling schools to pay for student tutoring and to transfer students to better performing schools within the district.
If a poorly performing school fails to improve over six years, the district can be required to fully restaff it.
"This law was passed to create a crisis and to paint an inaccurate picture of public schools," said Omaha Public School Superintendent John Mackiel, who praised Nelson's support of the bill. "There is something wrong with a law that punishes a school. We're moving into a punishment mode ... and it is truly, truly misguided."
Even districts not performing poorly are spending millions to comply with the law -- expenses that already strapped schools and states can't afford alone, Mackiel said.
Omaha Public Schools has spent about $40 a student -- or about $1.8million districtwide -- just to meet the student testing requirements of the law, he said.
"Those are resources that could better be spent in terms of reading assessment," Mackiel said.
Mackiel's district is Nebraska's largest with some 46,000 students. It is leading a lawsuit against the state challenging Nebraska's school funding structure. Twenty-six schools in Mackiel's district were considered failing under federal standards in the 2001-2002 year, but have since improved enough to be removed from the state's list of failing schools.
This is not the first time Nelson has beat the drum of federal funding responsibility for the education reform law. In 2001, Nelson and former Missouri Sen. Jean Carnahan tried to amend the reform bill to require the federal government to pay all the costs associated with it.
Nelson and Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., later voted against implementing the reform law, citing fears of soaring costs to states.
"States have made tremendous strides in meeting the accountability standards ... but the federal government has yet to do its part and provide the funding called for under the law," Nelson said. "The federal government should not be allowed to skip out on the education bill."
Hagel said Thursday he had not seen the measure but planned to read it before offering his support.
"It sounds like it would make sense to me," Hagel said.
But the bill is simply another way to avoid implementing much-needed education reform, said Dr. Thomas Jandris, president of Chicago-based school performance assessment company Progress Education and a key developer of the No Child Left Behind law.
It's also unlikely to pass in an election year, Jandris said.
"I just think they're going to have a tough row to hoe, because the Bush administration feels this is kind of a legacy piece of legislation they got through," he said.
"No matter how carefully worded their bill is ... whoever supports it will be painted as soft on accountability."
Copyright © 2003, Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved.
This content may not be archived or used for commercial purposes without written permission from the Lincoln Journal Star.
926 P Street Lincoln NE 68508
402 475-4200 • feedback@journalstar.com
http://65.54.168.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=2d6725becb208fb2e57646c6375b13c5&lat=1075561737&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ejournalstar%2ecom%2 flocal%2ephp%3fstory_id%3d118581