‘No Child’ Bill Left Behind in Committee
This story has been published in Fairfax Times and Emporia News.
By Stacey R. Hamman
RICHMOND — On a tie vote, a Senate committee last week killed a bill that would have barred the Virginia Board of Education from complying with unfunded provisions in the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Sen. Janet Howell, D-Reston, voted against the bill, though she said most years she votes in favor of such legislation.
Howell said there are a lot of questions about the NCLB law, including whether it is forcing too much testing.However, Howell said she thinks these issues will be addressed on the federal level.
“I am confident that the Obama administration is going to look at the criticisms and try and make the program work,” Howell said.
Sen. Emmett Hanger Jr., R-Mount Solon, sponsored Senate Bill 1040. It would have prohibited the state Board of Education “from complying with any provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act that are unfunded and are not an integral or necessary component” of Virginia’s standards of learning, quality or accreditation.
Hanger said he thinks the federal government is not in a position to ante up more money.
“I really see it going nowhere except more federal involvement,” he said. “As you move further down the program in the parameters of No Child Left Behind, it becomes even more undoable in terms of cost and in terms of the requirements of No Child Left Behind.”
Legislation in recent years has been put forward essentially to encourage Virginia to pull out of the program, Hanger said. He described past proposals “as a bargaining chip with the federal government, saying, ‘You know, we in Virginia are serious about this. If you don’t grant certain waivers, then we perhaps will pull out.’ ”
On Thursday, the Senate Education and Health Committee considered Hanger’s bill. A motion to approve the bill failed on a 6-6 vote. Consequently, the bill cannot go to the full Senate for consideration.
Sen. R. Edward Houck, D-Spotsylvania, is a member of the committee. He voted against SB 1040.
Houck said one consequence of the bill would be that Virginia would lose funding under the federal Title I program, which helps low-income students.
“We’ve got enough problems with not enough money down here now,” Houck said. “A lot of us agree that we don’t like all the components (of) No Child Left Behind and would like to see a lot of it changed, but I’m not willing to give up Title I money.”
Hanger agreed the loss of federal funds would be a problem.
“They essentially threatened us over the last several years that if we were to pull out … we would potentially lose a larger source of funding,” he said.
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