NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND

Utah Proposes Funding Fix for Federal Education Law

By Headwaters News, 11-20-06

The goal of the federal No Child Left Behind Act is to have every public school student in the nation performing at grade level by 2014. That Act is up for reauthorization for funding this year, and Utah officials are hoping the state’s federal lawmakers can tweak the law to make it more amenable to Utah and other western states.

Meeting the goals of the federal education law is particularly onerous for rural schools, where teachers often have to teach multiple subjects, and where budgets are often smaller because federal lands, which cannot be taxed, account for huge swaths of land in Western counties. Last week, Montana educators laid out the changes they’d like to see made in the federal law, including amendments on how special needs students’ progress is charted and also some flexibility for the state’s rural schools.

Now Utah educators are calling for some changes to the federal law as well, and one change is particular could have a profound effect on some Western school districts.

The Deseret News reports that Utah legislators have come up with a list of changes they’d like to see made to the federal legislation, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Patti Harrington has submitted the list to U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop and the rest of Utah’s congressional delegation.

One of the most far-reaching changes Harrington is suggesting is an amendment to the Title VIII Impact Aid Act so school districts made up largely of federal lands can qualify for more "impact aid" under No Child Left Behind.

The Title VIII Impact Aid legislation applies to schools impacted by federal land ownership after 1938, including such facilities as military bases which may cause an increase in student population.

At present there are nine school districts in Utah that qualify for impact aid under the law as it’s now written, but Harrington is asking federal lawmakers to consider an amendment that would include any school district where half the lands are owned by the federal government be able to qualify for funding under the Impact Aid.

Harrington’s proposal would make 26 school districts in Utah eligible for such aid, and would change federal funding levels for school districts in other Rocky Mountain States as well.

Utah educators, who have long asserted that states should retain authority over education, would return that control to the states.

They are also asking to allow states to break down test scores by student subgroups, and to limit the federal Education Department’s role to research, which Harrington said would allow the return of billions of dollars of revenue back to the states and their schools.

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