Maze of Education Regulations Produce Bizarre Results

The reauthorized version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the so-called "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) law, significantly increased the federal government's role in education through new testing, reporting, and other requirements for schools.

NEA believes all schools should have high expectations for all students and that educators should be accountable for their progress in helping all children learn. But as educators try to implement NCLB, they are finding serious flaws in the law that prevent a fair and accurate assessment of student progress and educator quality.

This sampling of absurd but disturbing stories from around the nation points out some of NCLB's flaws — and provides a roadmap for correcting them.

Texas

According to a study by independent researchers, Texas must pay $1.2 billion in state funds to meet the accountability standards of the No Child Left Behind law.
(Imazeki and Reschovsky, "Does No Child Left Behind Place a Fiscal Burden on States? Evidence from Texas," February 2005)

California

Education experts and school officials in California say schools are having to pay increasing attention to the middle-of-the-road students who have fallen just short of test requirements. This new focus on so-called "cusp" or "bubble" students, many experts say, is an unintended consequence of a law that emphasizes test scores and proficiency benchmarks. Teachers and principals say they try not to let the focus on cusp students come at the expense of other students, but with school resources and budgets limited, they face tough choices. "We could give a huge amount of help to our lowest performing students, but they're not going to make a big [impact on the school's score]," said fifth-grade teacher Denise Dennis at Remington Elementary School in Santa Ana. "It's an impossible situation. Our hands are tied."
(Los Angeles Times , 11/28/04)

Enrollment in music classes in San Diego public schools has dropped by a third in four years, and one major reason cited by music teachers in the district is the focus on standardized testing in reading and math under No Child Left Behind. "I don't know how long any elementary school is going to be able to keep a music program," said Ricki Pedersen, a music teacher at Kellogg Elementary School in Chula Vista and the last full-time music teacher in Chula Vista elementary schools.
(San Diego Union-Tribune , 11/19/04)

Connecticut

The state of Connecticut will have to spend $42 million of its own money by 2008 to comply with No Child Left Behind mandates, according to a recent study. Towns and cities across the state will have to spend an additional $700 million collectively to comply.
(Associated Press, 4/5/05)

Illinois

The Chicago public school system is paying $2.5 million out of Title I funding, which would have paid for more tutoring, to bus students at schools found "in need of improvement" to other schools in the district.
(Chicago Tribune , 4/6/05)

Chicago has also decided to continue running its own tutoring program for 40,000 struggling students through the end of the school year, but because of a ruling by the U.S. Department of Education, it won't be able to use federal No Child Left Behind funds to pay for it. The Department ruled that Chicago and other districts that fail to make "adequate yearly progress" for two years in a row cannot provide supplemental educational services to eligible low-income children from Title I schools. Although the law allows for private companies and religious institutions to run the tutoring programs, Chicago officials say the district would not have been able to reach as many students if forced to rely solely on private companies because the district's program costs no more than half of what private providers charge for the same service. Now the district plans to pay for the tutoring with $4 million earmarked for summer school.
(Chicago Tribune , 1/31/05)

Illinois eliminated its total budget of $19 million allotted for gifted-student programs in order to focus all resources on basic literacy skills essential to achieving higher test scores. These cuts affect gifted minority students who cannot afford supplemental enrichment or accelerated private education. The states of Massachusetts and California are following Illinois' lead.
(Wall Street Journal , 12/29/03)

Pennsylvania

Joseph O'Brien, 54, superintendent of Springfield schools, says that the law is costing his district $800,000 to $1.6 million for additional staff, tutoring, special education teachers, classroom materials and data management.
(Bloomberg News , 9/30/04)

Wisconsin

Wind Point Elementary School in Racine had to cut down art specialist and physical education teachers to half the school week because of federal mandates and budget cuts, according to Amy Piehler, co-president of the Wind Point Elementary School PTA. Carol Barkow, director of education for Racine Area Manufacturers and Commerce added, "I want to know how they propose to fund all the mandates and when the act will be expanded to have equal weight for high school students."
(Journal Times , 9/24/04)

Ohio

For three years, Wade Park Elementary School in Cleveland was on the list of low-performing schools but fought its way off last school year by improving fourth-grade scores, with 55 percent of students passing reading this past year, up from only five percent. This year, the school teachers and principal will try to do better with fewer resources: More than a quarter of the teaching staff is new to the school due to layoffs, and much of the teacher training and after-school tutoring that was credited with raising fourth-grade test scores has disappeared because of budget cuts.
(Cleveland Plain Dealer , 10/5/04)

Other

Broward County, Florida

The school district spent $1.5 million of its Title I money last year busing 850 students to other schools, as required under No Child Left Behind, according to Broward superintendent Frank Till.
(South Florida Sun-Sentinel , 4/2/05)

Hillsborough County, Florida

The school district spent about $20,000 of its Title I money for supplemental education services for three schools this year, but, for the upcoming school year, it expects that figure to rise to $8 million to cover students at an estimated 60 schools eligible to receive supplemental services, said Walt Bartlett, the district's director of federal programs. Bartlett also noted that the administrative costs for implementing the services, which could range from an additional $300,000 to half million dollars, must come out of other parts of the district's budget because the law does not permit the use of Title I funds for this purpose.
(Interview with Walt Bartlett, district's director of federal programs , February 2005)

Volusia County, Florida

Volusia County school officials say that No Child Left Behind would divert $2.5 million from services for some of the county's neediest students next school year to pay for busing and private tutors under the law. "It takes away the very programs that have allowed us to be successful," Superintendent Margaret Smith said.
(Daytona Beach News-Journal , 1/27/05)

Missouri

Budget constraints in Missouri have forced the state to cut back on testing subjects unrelated to No Child Left Behind because of its mandates. The state has cancelled state tests in science, social studies, health/physical education and fine arts the past two years.
(Education Week , 12/8/04)

Jefferson County, Kentucky

The district has spent more than $700,000 of its Title I funds on tutoring and busing alone in the last two years. Officials say No Child Left Behind promises choices that the district can't reasonably deliver. "It's not as simple as it sounds," said Pat Todd, director of student assignment.
(Louisville Courier Journal , 10/15/04)

South Dakota

Three out of four South Dakota students in the state attend rural public schools, and they're facing some major challenges when it comes to the No Child Left Behind Act, according to a study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office requested by Senator Tim Johnson. The report says that rural school districts have limited resources, difficulty recruiting teachers, shrinking budgets and that teachers are expected to take on more responsibilities.
(Keloland TV, 9/27/04)

Dekalb County, Georgia

All told, DeKalb County Schools spends $35 million a year on transportation, with an increasing share going to meet the busing mandates of No Child Left Behind. Some parents have complained about packed buses and long rides. According to Dannie Reed, executive director of the transportation department, "No Child Left Behind has got us going north, south, east, west."
(Atlanta Journal-Constitution , 8/25/04)

Washoe, Nevada

No Child Left Behind requires that the seven poverty-area schools in Washoe County on the "needs improvement" list must offer parents the option of busing their children to higher-achieving schools. So far, 49 parents have requested that option, compared to only four parents last year. The increase for this school year has forced the district to budget $130,000 for transportation expenses, which is money the district will not have for books, reading specialists and school supplies, school officials said.
(Reno Gazette-Journal , 8/24/04)

Virginia Beach, Virginia

According to a math resource teacher in the Virginia Beach school, this year six out of 16 Title I schools in the district, which has a large population of students from military families, are losing programs that include extended day kindergarten, reading recovery for first graders, and math and reading resource teachers. This is because the school district has held aside $2 million to pay for busing and supplementary education services under No Child Left Behind.
(Interview with Virginia Beach teacher , July 2004)

Arkansas

Teachers from Arkansas told of their school districts having to cut literacy and math specialists, music, art, and gifted programs in order to set aside Title I funds for transportation and supplemental services under the law.
(Interview with Arkansas teachers , July 2004)