The Bush administration is holding onto power in its final two months with a death grip that's strangling progressive and innovative policies affecting land use, the environment and, now, even education.

The No Child Left Behind education reform was one of President George W. Bush's few domestic success stories in terms of congressional support in the early days of his administration. But it has proven to be an albatross around the necks of state education systems around the country.

Its mandates on meeting certain annual goals, without regard to the needs and challenges of individual schools, have forced Utah teachers to abandon innovation and concentrate on raising scores in reading, language and math, the three areas targeted by NCLB.

Now the federal Department of Education refuses to excuse two Utah school districts from the smothering requirements of NCLB so that they can experiment with a new testing system that promises better results than current methods. That means the Sevier and Juab districts will be forced to forgo the new testing system or have students take both the old and the new tests, at a time when both the governor and state office of education favor fewer but more effective tests.

Utah had requested that schools in the two pilot districts be able to waive the required end-of-year Criterion Referenced Tests and replace them with computer-adaptive tests, which students would take several times a year. The computer-based tests automatically adapt to the ability of students and provide immediate feedback, so teachers can make changes in their lesson plans to fit students' needs.

We have criticized NCLB on this page for its lack of flexibility, while praising its ultimate goal of bringing all children up to grade standard in the three subject areas by 2014. Utah legislators have complained about Washington's ignorance of the needs of small, rural schools and have threatened to ignore the federal mandates, even though the state would stand to lose millions in federal education funds.

In retribution, it seems, the federal education department has decided to ignore the will of Utah education officials, the governor and the Legislature, all of whom supported giving the new system a try.

President Bush obviously has dug in his heels. After Jan. 20, when President-elect Barack Obama takes office, Utah should resubmit its request. Then we'll have a better chance to adopt programs that make sense here.