A number of states and school districts around the country are
taking on No Child Left Behind.
On one level, it's not surprising that the chorus of critics is growing louder. NCLB is the most significant education reform in a generation, and it is a morass of complex requirements on everything from who's tested to who can teach. Schools can land on a watch list for something as simple as testing only 94 percent of students - or 94 percent of a subgroup, like non-English speakers. Many districts don't understand what they're trying to implement.
Some districts are turning down federal funds to avoid the mandates. But not all districts can afford to do so.
Still, while states and districts bluster, opting out isn't always an option. Federal funds account for just 8 percent of the nation's education budget, but most of it goes to the poorest districts, who lack the tax base for local funding.
A few districts in Connecticut and Vermont made headlines last fall when they turned down federal funds - releasing them from sanctions, if not from testing - but for most of them, the funds were a small part of their budget.
Melissa Jamula, superintendent of Pennsylvania's Reading School District, would like to do the same thing, but "it's not an option." She needs every cent of the $10 million in federal funds.
So she's suing the state education department.
What's great about this is the "rebellion" is coming from both the right and the left. It's just one more instance a Bush attempt at being "compassionate conservative" and instead, he just pisses everybody off.