Utah has requested six waivers of rules it must comply with under the No Child Left Behind Act or risk losing federal funding for disadvantaged students.

None of the waivers has been granted, but Harrington is optimistic.

"We hope to get some of the waivers already granted to other states," said Utah's top educator, who is meeting with Spellings at the invitation of Utah Republican Rep. Rob Bishop.

"I want to build a relationship with Secretary Spellings, and I want to show her that there is no animosity toward her, and we've appreciated the flexibility that she's given us," Harrington said. "But it is hard to suffer the loss of leading our own education system."

She thinks National Assessment for Educational Progress data released Wednesday will strengthen her case in many areas. While data broken down by ethnic groups shows worse performance by some Utah students than their nationwide peers, Utah's overall scores are better than the national averages.

"I'm hoping to start open dialogue and open communication. That's the only way to come to a resolution," she said.

smcfarland@sltrib.com