Communities Reject NCLB Funds and Red-Tape

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

          TWO TOWNS REJECT FEDERAL SCHOOL FUNDS
                Hartford Courant -- September 26, 2003
                         by Robert Frahm

Although President Bush's school reform law offers money to help needy 
public schools meet tough new academic standards, at least two 
Connecticut towns have just said no.

Cheshire and Somers, along with a handful of schools in Vermont, are 
believed to be among the first places in the nation to turn down grants 
from the U.S. Department of Education's Title I program.

By rejecting the federal anti-poverty grants, the school systems not 
only avoid some regulations and paperwork, but also become exempt from 
possible future sanctions under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Although schools in Connecticut's lean economy are not accustomed to 
turning down money, Cheshire's decision not to take nearly $80,000 in 
Title I money and Somers' rejection of about $45,000 are rooted, in 
part, in skepticism about the federal education reforms.

Both Cheshire and Somers are relatively affluent towns but became 
eligible for Title I this year after census figures revealed pockets of 
poverty.

"All the bureaucratic nonsense associated with No Child Left Behind ... 
really doesn't fit a community like Cheshire," said David A. Cressy, the 
town's school superintendent. "It just, to me, didn't make sense."

In Somers, School Superintendent Thomas W. Jefferson said his town 
learned of its eligibility for the money long after the school budget 
had been finalized and decided not to add programs hastily.

"To say Title I comes with strings attached is an understatement," 
Jefferson said. "It comes with ropes and anchors attached."

The No Child Left Behind Act, signed by Bush last year, expands testing 
programs and imposes corrective sanctions on schools receiving Title I 
funds whose students fail to meet state standards in reading and 
mathematics. It also provides additional Title I money to schools 
educating low-income children.

The law's sanctions grow progressively more demanding each year a school 
fails to meet standards but apply only to schools that receive Title I 
money. Those that fail to make adequate progress two years in a row are 
required to allow students to transfer to other local schools. In later 
years, those schools can be required to pay for individual tutoring, 
replace teachers, change curriculum or even turn over control to state 
government.

Soon after the No Child Left Behind Act took effect, officials in some 
states, including Vermont, weighed the possibility of rejecting their 
entire allotments of Title I money, but no state followed through on the 
idea.

In Vermont, however, a few local schools did forgo small grants. The 
first was Hazen Union School in Hardwick, which turned down about 
$10,000 to avoid penalties for failing to make enough improvement in 
reading and math scores.

"What we didn't want to do is have the penalty phase kick in any sooner 
than we need to. [The law] has a punitive overtone to it," said David 
Bickford, assistant superintendent for the Orleans Southwest Supervisory 
Union, which oversees Hazen Union.

A government spokesman said the U.S. Department of Education has no data 
on whether local schools or districts have taken similar action, but 
several education analysts said they believe few places in the nation 
have actually turned down the money.

"It's the first time I've seen schools do this. Normally you take every 
penny you can get," said Patty Sullivan of the Council of Chief State 
School Officers in Washington, D.C.

In Connecticut, schools that do not receive money under Title I still 
are subject to the testing and accountability provisions of No Child 
Left Behind, and could be required to take corrective action by the 
state. However, those schools would be exempt from the federal 
sanctions, according to the state Department of Education.

In addition, those schools would be able to avoid requirements such as 
sending No Child Left Behind reports to all parents, state officials said.

Title I provides extra reading and mathematics instruction to children 
in low-income schools and is the federal government's biggest aid 
program for elementary and secondary schools. About 85 percent of 
Connecticut's public school districts receive Title I money.

Neither Cheshire nor Somers had any schools this year on the state's 
list of schools that have not made adequate progress toward the No Child 
Left Behind standards, but the law is scheduled to make the standards 
progressively more difficult. Cressy said he is opposed to the law's use 
of sanctions, "as if punishing schools in this way is going to make them 
better."

At least one other Connecticut school system, Marlborough, also is 
considering whether to reject its small Title I grant. It became 
eligible this year for about $8,400.

"With amounts that small, the cost for administering it could exceed the 
amount of the grant," said Joseph Reardon, superintendent in 
Marlborough, which has just one elementary school.

Any funds rejected by local schools are returned to the state for 
redistribution to other Connecticut schools, state officials said.

http://www.ctnow.com/news/custom/newsat3/hc-justsayno0926.artsep26,1,6354966.story?coll=hc-headlines-newsat3