With its list of 43 recommended changes that Congress needs to make to the law, the bipartisan National Conference of State Legislatures delivered one of the most politically damaging indictments of Bush's signature education reform measure since Congress approved it in 2001.
"We believe the federal government's role has become excessively intrusive in the day-to-day operation of public education," said Stephen Saland, a New York state Republican senator who co-chaired the group's task force on the education reform law.
Added Utah House Rep. Kory Holdaway, R-Taylorsville, a task force member and teacher: "These decisions should be made in the states, not in Washington, D.C."
The blueprint developed by the group after 10 months of meetings with state lawmakers around the nation seeks congressional action to amend the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law to include greater state authority, more federal regulatory flexibility, higher federal funding commitments and less-stringent requirements for measuring student progress.
But the lawmakers were cautious not to appear as if they were willing to bite the federal hand that feeds them. Even as the report questioned whether NCLB violates the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution - which reserves certain powers for states - Conference President John Hurson, a Democrat in the Maryland House of Delegates, said the organization isn't planning to sue or promote outright defiance of the controversial law.
"It's not for us to pursue litigation but we hope the message to Congress is loud and clear," he said. "We want to start a dialogue and we think we are on the way to doing that."
Still, members of the task force acknowledged that several state legislatures are considering emulating bills nearing passage in the Utah Legislature that would attempt to assert state authority over some of the federal mandates in NCLB. Holdaway acknowledged that Utah is chafing under the rigid constraints of the law, but the state cannot afford to lose the federal funding that would be withheld for noncompliance.
"To the extent we can work within the law, we are fully supportive of it along with the accountability," he said. "But if funding becomes an issue, obviously we can't refuse that funding, being the lowest in the nation for per-pupil spending."
Even in New York, which has the nation's highest per-pupil expenditure - $12,059 compared with Utah's $5,091 - lawmakers believe NCLB is doing more harm than good in public schools.
"Innovation stopped when No Child Left Behind came along, because it was no longer allowed," said Saland. "Like a weed, the act stifled the blossoming of states' ideas."
A laundry list of proposals on No Child Left Behind
Leaders of state legislatures across the country delivered a list of needed changes to the No Child Left Behind education law to the Department of Education and Congress on Wednesday.
Some of the key recommendations:
* Conduct a Government Accountability Office investigation into whether NCLB violates the federal prohibition against unfunded federal mandates, and how much compliance will cost states.
* Grant more waivers to states to encourage innovative approaches to learning.
* Amend the law to reduce the "over-identification" of failing schools and make adequate yearly progress requirements less rigid.
* Give states authority to determine when to use native-language tests and English-only tests.
* Allow states to test special education students according to their ability, not grade level.
* Re-evaluate the 100 percent efficiency requirement and replace it with more realistic goals.
* Substantially increase federal funding for the law.
Source: National Conference of State Legislatures
