Civil Rights Monitor
 |
The CIVIL RIGHTS MONITOR is a quarterly publication that reports on civil rights issues pending before the three branches of government. The Monitor also provides a historical context within which to assess current civil rights issues. Back issues of the Monitor are available through this site. Browse or search the archives Summer 2003
On the Hill
No Child Left Behind: Unfulfilled Promises On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA), creating landmark change in elementary and secondary education. On that day, President Bush stated, "We owe the children of America a good education. And today begins a new era, a new time in public education in our country. As of this hour, America's schools will be on a new path to reform, and a new path of results…From this day forward, all students will have a better chance to learn, to excel, and to live out their dreams." However, a year and a half later, states are now facing their worst fiscal crises in 60 years. States are decimating education budgets, cutting teacher positions, class sizes are increasing, and states are cutting weeks off the school year. Some states are even going to a four-day school week.
The principles of the NCLBA are reform and accountability. States are now required to set high academic standards with the goal of closing achievement gaps between students, and to set annual goals to raise student achievement. States and schools will be held accountable for students' achievement of those high standards through annual statewide testing that is to be aligned with the state's standards. These tests, along with additional measures such as graduation and retention rates, will be used to determine how well a school is performing. If a school is not making adequate progress and considered failing, a range of actions are triggered to raise the schools performance levels while providing different options to attempt to ensure students have access to a quality education. Schools are also now required to have teachers that are "highly qualified" and fully certified. Poor schools often have large numbers of inexperienced teachers.
At final passage of this law in Congress, debate had turned from the new accountability measures and high standards to funding levels and implementation. With all of the new requirements came many promises of adequate resources from both the administration and Congress. Some votes in favor of the law were contingent on the promise of enough funding for schools, and in particular high-poverty schools, to have a chance of complying with the new, expensive standards. Senator Kennedy stated, after final Senate passage of the bill, "I strongly support these reforms, but I am concerned that . . .this Congress and this President have failed to support the investments necessary if we are serious about truly leaving no child behind." The quality and fairness of the tests for all populations came into question, which is why so many members of Congress were concerned that adequate funding be provided to ensure that states provide quality, fair tests. In the fiscal year following passage of the NCLBA, Senator Kennedy, D-Mass., and Rep. George Miller, D-Cal., led a successful drive to secure a large increase in funding for Title I. But in the second year, the Bush administration recommended a tiny increase. According to the National Association of State Boards of Education, the cost of complying with the testing provisions of NCLBA total $1 billion per year. Congress only authorized $490 billion in funding and actual appropriations were even less.
Since the day the NCLBA became law, state budgets have taken a turn for the worse. When states face hard economic times, education presents a large target. Added to the problems faced internally with state budgets were the unfulfilled promises from the federal government, which included decreasing tax revenues along with increasing federal mandates. And recently, the president signed yet another tax cut and further tax cuts are being discussed. At the signing of the bill, President Bush also stated, "We're going to spend more money, more resources, but they'll be directed at methods that work…If we've learned anything over the last generations, money alone doesn't make a good school. It certainly helps…we've spent billions of dollars with lousy results. So now it's time to spend billions of dollars and get good results."
The concern Senator Kennedy raised when Congress passed the final version of this law remains: that this Congress and this President have failed to support the investments necessary if we are serious about truly leaving no child behind. As always, those schools with the most limited resources will be hardest hit by the downturn in the economy and the cuts to the budget. Congress and the White House must provide the funding necessary to fulfill the promises to all children set forth by the NCLBA.
  
|
