Resolution blasts ‘no child left behind’

AUGUSTA – Leave us alone or give us some money. That’s the message Maine lawmakers said Wednesday they want to send to the federal government, as they introduced a resolution calling for either a waiver or full funding of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Commissioner of Education Susan Gendron and representatives of school lobbying groups were on hand to blast federal officials for trying to impose their will on the state.

Sponsored by Rep. Margaret Craven, D-Lewiston, and signed by 100 other legislators, the joint resolution is expected to be considered in the House today.

It states that Maine already has an “outstanding system of public elementary and secondary school education,” and that the federal law “imposes significant costs” on schools.

No Child Left Behind is a national education reform program mandating that students in grades 3-8 be tested annually in math and reading by 2005-06 and in science by 2007-08. Students are supposed to be tested once in grades 10-12.

If schools don’t make “adequate yearly progress,” they will be identified as failing and be subject to a series of escalating consequences, including having to offer school choice and tutoring, as well as dismissing teachers, paraprofessionals and administrators.

So far, around 40 schools in Maine have been classified as “priority schools” needing improvement.

The group held a news conference outside the Lincoln Elementary School in Augusta at which lawmakers, educators, lobbyists and Commissioner Gendron presented a united front. Legislators pointed out that Maine students already score in the top 10 states on the National Assessment of Education Progress.

They said the law was “irrelevant to Maine’s needs” because it targets failing urban schools. They said schools can be unfairly labeled as failing even though they have made academic strides.

“We don’t want another huge unfunded federal mandate imposed on us … We are doing well here in Maine. We respectfully ask Washington to leave us alone,” said Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, a co-sponsor of the resolution.

Pointing out the state receives only 6 percent of its total education budget from the federal government, Education Committee co-chair Sen. Neria Douglass, D-Auburn, said the “real issue” is that the state could lose the funds “if we say [the law] isn’t well-crafted and it doesn’t work for us.”

Commissioner Gendron said several hundred schools per year could be identified as “needing improvement” and consequently be forced to spend $50,000 putting together a team of mentors, researchers and other professionals to make changes. The next designations will be made in July, she said.

No one disagrees with the premise that each child should be successful, but one-size fits-all doesn’t work, Gendron said.

Maine’s educational standards are exceptionally high, and although many states have lowered their standards so they won’t be identified as failing, Maine has no intention of following suit, she said.

While the federal government is planning on punishing schools that don’t improve, “that’s not Maine’s way,” she said. “We want to develop an action plan that supports [them].”

Washington has recognized that not enough attention has been paid to the law’s effect on rural states, according to Gendron. Maine’s congressional delegation “is asking us where the law should be fine-tuned,” she said.

Sen. Susan Collins said in a prepared statement Wednesday that she has spearheaded a bipartisan effort to persuade Congress to increase funding to help states carry out No Child Left Behind requirements.

The law is “a testing game that public schools cannot win,” said Rob Walker, president of the Maine Education Association, the state’s teachers union. “We view it as an oversimplified solution to a complex issue.”

Also at Wednesday’s event, the Maine School Management Association, which represents superintendents and school boards, distributed a paper criticizing the law.

Noting the federal Department of Education hadn’t yet completed all the details, the MSMA stated, “It is extremely difficult to implement something and be accountable for it if you do not know what the rules of the road are when you start the journey.”

Rep. Craven said after the meeting she hopes the resolution “will take it to the people who will put pressure on Congress” to change the law.

Other states, including New Hampshire and Vermont, are taking or considering taking similar action, Mark Gray, MEA executive director, said.