10 states leaving 'No Child' education law
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama declared yesterday that 10 states are free of the No Child Left Behind law, allowing them to scrap some of the most rigorous and unpopular mandates in American education. In exchange, the states are promising higher standards and more creative ways to measure what students are learning.
"We can combine greater freedom with greater accountability," Obama said from the White House. Several more states are bound to take him up on the offer.
The first 10 states to be declared free of the landmark education law are Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
The only state that applied for the flexibility and did not get it, New Mexico, is working with the administration to get approval.
In New York, the Board of Regents, which sets education policy, announced it, too, would consider applying for a waiver. The board is expected to vote on the question when it convenes Monday and Tuesday in Albany.
A total of 28 other states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have signaled that they, too, plan to flee the law in favor of their own plans.
The moves are tacit acknowledgment that the law's main goal, getting all students up to speed in reading and math by 2014, is not within reach.
The states excused from following the law no longer have to meet that deadline.
Instead, they had to put forward plans showing they will prepare children for college and careers, set new targets for improving achievement among all students, reward the best performing schools, and focus help on the ones doing the worst.
Obama said he was acting because Congress had failed to update the law, despite widespread agreement it needs to be fixed.
"We've offered every state the same deal," Obama said. "If you're willing to set higher, more honest standards than the ones that were set by No Child Left Behind, then we're going to give you the flexibility to meet those standards."
Republicans have charged that by granting waivers, Obama was overreaching his authority.
Obama called President George W. Bush's most-hyped domestic accomplishment an admirable but flawed effort that hurt students instead of helping them.
Snow totals may be less across the South Shore A winter storm is expected to pummel LI as artic air settles in across the region. NewsdayTV meteorologist Geoff Bansen has the forecast.
Snow totals may be less across the South Shore A winter storm is expected to pummel LI as artic air settles in across the region. NewsdayTV meteorologist Geoff Bansen has the forecast.
