Congressional Republicans Turn Agains NCLB

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

DOZENS IN GOP TURN AGAINST BUSH'S PRIZED "NO CHILD" ACT

Washington Post -- March 15, 2007
by Jonathan Weisman and Amit R. Paley

More than 50 GOP members of the House and Senate -- including the 
House's second-ranking Republican -- will introduce legislation today 
that could severely undercut President Bush's signature domestic 
achievement, the No Child Left Behind Act, by allowing states to opt out 
of its testing mandates.

For a White House fighting off attacks on its war policy and dealing 
with a burgeoning scandal at the Justice Department, the GOP dissidents' 
move is a fresh blow on a new front. Among the co-sponsors of the 
legislation are House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a key supporter 
of the measure in 2001, and John Cornyn (R-Tex.), Bush's most reliable 
defender in the Senate. Rep. Eric Cantor (Va.), the House GOP's chief 
deputy whip and a supporter in 2001, has also signed on.

Burson Snyder, a spokesman for Blunt, said that after several meetings 
with school administrators and teachers in southwest Missouri, the House 
Republican leader turned against the measure he helped pass. Blunt was 
convinced that the burdens and red tape of the No Child Left Behind Act 
are unacceptably onerous, Snyder said.

Some Republicans said yesterday that a backlash against the law was 
inevitable. Many voters in affluent suburban and exurban districts -- 
GOP strongholds -- think their schools have been adversely affected by 
the law. Once-innovative public schools have increasingly become captive 
to federal testing mandates, jettisoning education programs not covered 
by those tests, siphoning funds from programs for the talented and 
gifted, and discouraging creativity, critics say.

To be sure, key lawmakers would like to reauthorize the law this year. 
Ranking Republicans on the House and Senate education committees are 
pushing for a renewal. And key Democrats, including Rep. George Miller 
(Calif.) and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.), the chairmen of the House 
and Senate committees responsible for drafting an updated No Child Left 
Behind Act, are strong supporters, although they want large increases in 
funding and more emphasis on teacher training and development.

Still, Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), author of the new House bill, said 
the number of Republicans already backing the new measure exceeds the 41 
House Republicans and Democrats who voted against the original 
legislation in 2001. Of the House bill's co-sponsors, at least eight 
voted for the president's plan six years ago.

"President Bush and I just see education fundamentally differently," 
said Hoekstra, a longtime opponent of the law. "The president believes 
in empowering bureaucrats in Washington, and I believe in local and 
parental control."

As Congress considers reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act, the 
GOP rebellion could grow, conceded Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon 
(Calif.), the ranking Republican on the House Education and Labor 
Committee and a key ally of the president on the issue. "It was a 
struggle getting it passed last time. It'll be even more of a struggle 
this time," he said.

Under Hoekstra's bill, any state could essentially opt out of No Child 
Left Behind after one of two actions. A state could hold a referendum, 
or two of three elected entities -- the governor, the legislature and 
the state's highest elected education official -- could decide that the 
state would no longer abide by the strict rules on testing and the 
curriculum.

The Senate bill is slightly less permissive, but it would allow a state 
to negotiate a "charter" with the federal government to get away from 
the law's mandates.

In both cases, the states that opt out would still be eligible for 
federal funding, but those states could exempt any education program but 
special education from No Child Left Behind strictures.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said that advocates do not intend to repeal the 
No Child Left Behind Act. Instead, they want to give states more 
flexibility to meet the president's goals of education achievement, he 
said. As a House member in 2001, DeMint opposed No Child Left Behind 
when it first came to a vote, but he voted for it on final passage.

"So many people are frustrated with the shackles of No Child Left 
Behind," DeMint said. "I don't think anyone argues with measuring what 
we're doing, but the fact is, even the education community . . . sees us 
just testing, testing, testing, and reshaping the curriculum so we look 
good."

Parent unrest in places such as Scarsdale, N.Y., and parts of suburban 
Michigan could affect members of Congress. Connecticut has sued the 
government over the law, while legislatures in Virginia, Colorado and 
heavily Republican Utah have moved to supersede it.

Republican lawmakers involved in crafting the new legislation say 
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings and other administration 
officials have moved in recent days to tamp down dissent within the GOP. 
Since January, Spellings has met or spoken with about 40 Republican 
lawmakers on the issue, said Katherine McLane, the Education 
Department's press secretary.

"We've made a lot of progress in the past five years in serving the 
children who have traditionally been underserved in our education 
system," McLane said. "Now is not the time to roll back the clock on 
those children."

But so far, the administration's efforts have borne little fruit, 
Republican critics said.

"Republicans voted for No Child Left Behind holding their noses," said 
Michael J. Petrilli, an Education Department official during Bush's 
first term who is now a critic of the law. "But now with the president 
so politically weak, conservatives can vote their conscience."

   
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031402741.html