GOP URGES STATE TO OPT OUT OF "NO CHILD"
SENATE REPUBLICANS SAY LOCAL CONTROL WORTH LOSS OF $150 MILLION
St. Paul Pioneer Press -- December 7, 2007
by Megan Boldt

Senate Republicans on Thursday said they want Minnesota to opt out of
the controversial No Child Left Behind law, even if it means the loss of
$150 million in federal aid.

The five-year-old law calls for all students to be proficient in reading
and math by 2014. States are required to develop extensive standards and
testing to evaluate schools, and schools that miss benchmarks set by
their states face increasingly tough consequences.

Sen. Geoff Michel, R-Edina, argued that Minnesota schools need to be run
locally - not by bureaucrats 1,100 miles away. He also said the program
is a failure and the state is "held hostage" by what amounts to meager
federal funds.

"What we want to do is put Minnesota school boards ... principals ...
teachers back in control of their schools," Michel said. "We're for
testing, we're for accountability. We just don't believe that should be
made, created and ordained out in Washington, D.C."

Senate Republicans plan to introduce the legislation in the upcoming
session. The bill would not propose eliminating current state standards,
tests or report cards on schools.

Minnesota receives about $580 million a year in federal aid for programs
that include No Child Left Behind, special education and school meals.
That's about 6 percent of total school district revenue.

Democrats, who control the state House and Senate, have pushed for
withdrawal from No Child Left Behind in the past.

Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty saidThursday the law needs to be tweaked
and improved, but congressional repeal of the law or having Minnesota
opt out is not the answer.

"We have to have a system of accountability as we think about education
policy," Pawlenty said. "We want to be focused not just on how much
money is going into the system but what we're getting for the money that
we spend."

Rep. Mindy Greiling, D-Roseville, said Republican lawmakers are late to
the game. The chairwoman of the House K-12 Education Finance Committee
said her party has proposed getting out of No Child Left Behind for
years because it is unworkable and costly.

"I've never thought it was a good idea for the federal government to
mandate things and not fund them, especially when it's such a punitive
program," Greiling said. "They just want to point out problems and bash
the schools rather than fund it and make the system more flexible so
they can fix those problems."

The federal education law expires at the end of this year, but it renews
automatically. Although there is bipartisan support for changing the
law, it's unlikely Congress can do that in less than a month.

Proponents say No Child Left Behind makes schools accountable for
student performance, especially low-income and minority children who
tend to achieve substantially lower test scores. Critics argue it
ignores how standards and challenges vary state by state and even
district by district.

"Any time you try to do a one-size-fits-all approach, it ends up fitting
no one at all," said Sen. Betsy Wergin, R-Princeton. "It doesn't work."