DLC Blog

No Child Left Behind?

President George W. Bush	Sec. of Education Margaret Spellings	NEA President Reg Weaver

An uprising may be under way against President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) education initiative. While it has been controversial from the very beginning, the initiative has just recently been confronted with legal challenges from the National Education Association (NEA) and several states. The NEA is the nation's largest teachers' union, comprised of over 2 million members. It recently filed a suit contending that NCLB is underfunded and leaves states to pick up the tab. Meanwhile, the state of Utah passed a bill in April that gives priority to state accountability systems where they conflict with those of NCLB. The vital text of this bill is included below. Is "No Child" about to be left behind? Find out for yourself in the articles below!

"(i) providing first priority to meeting state goals, objectives, program needs, and accountability systems as they relate to federal programs; and (ii) providing second priority to implementing federal goals, objectives, program needs, and accountability systems that do not directly and simultaneously advance state goals, objectives, program needs, and accountability systems;"

Important Articles:
President Bush answers questions about NCLB at his April 28th Press Conference
NEA, States Challenge "No Child" Program (from the Washington Post)
No Child Left Behind? Hardly (from the New York Times)
US schools challenge Bush reforms (from the BBC)
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (from the US Dept. of Education)
Implementing Federal Educational Programs (Bill from the Utah State Legislature)

Posted by Graham at April 29, 2005 12:03 PM in Social Studies.