But what was heralded nearly six years ago as landmark education-reform legislation is now considered deeply flawed.
House Democrats are drafting a new, more tolerable version they hope to vote on this fall. President Bush has his own ideas for a second draft of NCLB. But building consensus won't be easy.
Utah's three House members symbolize the intense debate. They say NCLB's intentions are "noble" - to get all children reading and doing math at grade level by 2014. They also slam the law as too rigid and impractical. But they disagree on how Congress should tweak the regulations.
Rep. Rob Bishop, a former high school teacher, sums up his feelings on NCLB in just two words: "It sucks."
Bishop, a Republican, vows to oppose any reauthorization attempts on philosophical, states' rights grounds. "Why should the federal government tell the states what to do?"
Rep. Jim Matheson, a Democrat, believes Congress will pass some version and wants his changes included, some of which would fundamentally alter NCLB mandates.
Republican Rep. Chris Cannon doesn't want the federal government tampering with the states' education systems, yet he still seeks ways to make NCLB more palatable.
If Congress won't kill NCLB, Bishop hopes it will pass the A-PLUS Act, sponsored by Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., which would allow states to drop the NCLB standards and keep the money. The bill with the most momentum, however, is the one being drafted by Rep. George Miller, D-Calif, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.
Bush's Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has criticized Miller's attempts to broaden the tools used to determine if a school has made progress, saying they could water down the original act.
Matheson argues Miller's proposed changes simply make the act more reasonable.
Miller's bill includes only two of the reforms Matheson is asking for. It would allow schools to use more than just one test to show progress and includes a proposal to track each student over time.
Matheson promises to push for more changes. He rails against the practice of labeling an entire school as needing improvement if only one group fails to meet the expectations.
"That is approaching it with a meat ax instead of approaching it in a more surgical way," he said. His plan is to label the group as "needs improvement" and only provide extra help to that group.
He also wants to allow schools to offer tutoring before being required to bus students to other schools and he wants to give rural schools more time to reach the "highly qualified teacher" standard. Matheson wants the education department to allow a college minor or major life experience to count as well.
He has the backing of State Schools Superintendent Patti Harrington.
"He has excellent ideas," she said.
Still, she would much rather have Bishop succeed. "The best news for Utah would be that it doesn't survive at all," she said.
mcanham@sltrib.com
Rep. Jim Matheson wrote his own NCLB bill, which he now is trying to get incorporated into a larger measure expected to go before the House this fall. Provisions include:
* Highly qualified teacher standard: Rather than require all teachers to have college degrees in the subjects they teach, he wants a college minor to count. Matheson also wants to give rural schools more time and an additional $50 million to meet the standard.
* Individualized testing of students with special needs: Instead of testing them at "grade level," he wants them tested at their individual ability level.
* Adequate Yearly Progress: Instead of tagging a whole school as in need of improvement for not having demonstrated Adequate Yearly Progress toward meeting NCLB goals, Matheson wants the label attached only to the group that didn't meet the benchmark.
