The first voices of dissent emerged Tuesday in Utah's quest to diminish No Child Left Behind's reach, but that didn't stop a legislative committee from forging ahead with a bill challenging the federal law.

The Education Interim Committee voted 20-1 Tuesday to revisit the text of House Bill 135 - which was stalled during this year's general session at Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s request - during an April 20 special session.

The support comes despite newly voiced concerns from minority groups who were largely absent when the measure was initially debated during the 2005 Legislature.

The support also comes as negotiations between the governor's office and the feds head into their final two weeks without reaching consensus on Utah's demand for flexibility under No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

HB135, which will be renumbered for the special session, would give preference to Utah's standards for school and teacher quality over those of NCLB.

Minority groups worry that schools will overlook students of color if Utah backs away from federal provisions that spotlight the achievement gap between them and their white and Asian peers.

"There's a lot of kids who won't be counted, and we'll be leaving them behind," said Rep. Duane Bordeaux, D-Salt Lake City, who cast the lone dissenting vote Tuesday.

Passed by Congress in 2001, NCLB sets criteria for teacher quality and holds schools accountable for improving test scores among students of all ethnic, income and language groups, as well as students with disabilities.

Utah wants its own accountability system - the Utah Performance Assessment System for Students - to count toward NCLB compliance, but the feds have refused. U-PASS measures individual students' academic progress from one year to the next.

NCLB measures groups of students - this year's fifth graders against next year's fifth graders, for example, or last year's third-grade English learners against this year's third-grade English learners.

At the heart of Bordeaux's and minority advocates' concerns is the state's plan to hold schools accountable only for demographic groups of 40 or more students, up from the current 10.

That change would let hundreds of schools off the hook for certain groups, such as ethnic groups, which tend to be small outside of urban Salt Lake City.

The change tells minority students that they don't matter unless they attend a school with 39 students with the same ethnic background, primary language or income level, said Charles Henderson, a member of the Coalition of Minorities Advisory Committee, an advisory group to the state school board.

"It says to kids, 'I may not count,' '' he said.

State schools Superintendent Patti Harrington assured the committee that minority students will be counted under U-PASS even though it, too, holds schools accountable for a subgroup size of 40. The achievement gap is a big problem that can't be overlooked, she said.

"I share Rep. Bordeaux's concerns in a mighty way," she said. "We are woefully behind."

Minority groups will meet at Northwest Middle School tonight to discuss concerns surrounding NCLB, the special session and U-PASS.

Utah isn't the only state challenging the federal law.

Connecticut's attorney general is preparing a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education to protest the costs of implementing NCLB without sufficient federal funding.

rlynn@sltrib.com

Community meeting

What: How No Child Left Behind affects minority communities

When: Today 5:30 -7:30 p.m.

Where: Northwest Middle School, 1400 W. Goodwin Ave. (about 1100 North), Salt Lake City