Ask Texas about bluffs.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings followed through on her predecessor's warnings that President Bush's home state would lose $440,000 for belatedly notifying parents that their child's school didn't meet federal standards for academic progress. (NCLB requires schools to let parents know before the academic year begins so they can transfer their children to higher performing schools.)

Could Utah face federal fines or the loss of millions in funding in the wake of House Bill 1001?

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is scheduled to sign the measure Monday, putting the final stamp on the Republican-led Legislature's opposition to NCLB, Bush's prized school-reform initiative.

Like Texas, Utah has been late to release school-performance reports, but the feds have let it slide because of recent changes to the state's content standards and their respective tests, said Kerri Briggs, senior policy adviser at the department.

That said, HB1001 opens the door for future penalties. The measure gives state school leaders authority to defy the federal law if they determine it conflicts with state education priorities or costs state dollars.

State school Superintendent Patti Harrington has said she wouldn't dare endanger the funding - most of which targets low-income kids - when Utah already spends less per student than any other state.

"We are not going to lose a dime," Harrington said. "As fiercely as I have criticized No Child Left Behind, I will fiercely guard [the] money."

Minority groups criticized HB1001 partly because of the financial risk but also because they believe it could weaken schools' accountability for the academic achievement of minority students.

Yet lawmakers passed HB1001 because they resented Washington's intrusion into state education matters and believe Utah's school-accountability system surpasses the federal system.

Harrington and officials from Huntsman's office have been negotiating with the feds for more flexibility under the law. Those discussions will continue even after Monday's signing.

Spellings is expected to visit Utah in coming weeks.

State leaders want to use Utah's criteria for measuring school and teacher quality. They're also angling for concessions on teacher-quality standards in rural districts and teachers for incarcerated youths - and how to hold schools accountable for academic achievement among English learners.

Many lawmakers said they would rather give up the money than be bound by federal policies.

Spellings acknowledged Utah's legislation itself doesn't jeopardize the funding. But if school officials use the bill to justify noncompliance with NCLB, well, the federal money could be gone.

"You'll see a commitment on the part of Congress and the president and the department that this law works and that the accountability provisions are enforced," Assistant Education Secretary Raymond Simon said. "Prior to No Child Left Behind, states weren't threatened in any way with violating the law because there were no consequences."

At that time, the 1994 version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act - the "we-don't-mean-it law," as Simon calls it - governed federal funding and its use.

"There were so many waivers that the [law] really didn't have any impacts," he said.

Utah and other states have asked Washington for flexibility under NCLB, but until recently, the administration hasn't budged.

Last month, Spellings announced several changes:

* More students with disabilities will be allowed to take modified state tests.

* More money will be available for identifying and serving students with disabilities.

* The department will consider the viability of accountability systems that consider year-to-year academic growth as a measure of school quality. Utah and several other states have been lobbying for a growth model.

rlynn@sltrib.com