AUGUSTA – Maine lawmakers took the offensive on Thursday, castigating a U.S. Department of Education official over everything they see wrong with a controversial and complicated new federal education reform law.

Enacted in 2002, No Child Left Behind emphasizes, among other things, school accountability, teachers who are highly qualified, public reporting and options for parents.

While lauding the goals, state lawmakers complained Thursday that the law isn’t fair to students with special needs, doesn’t mesh with the state’s own accountability system, and is designed too much for urban schools.

“It’s the worst thing to come out of Washington in a long, long time,” Rep. Edward Finch, D-Fairfield, told Michael Sentance, the department’s regional representative from Boston. “You federalized the public school system.”

Other lawmakers pointed out that the federal government hasn’t given states enough money to fulfill the law’s requirements and said they wished Maine could simply opt out.

But Sentance pointed out that Maine’s educational system has room to improve.

While National Assessment of Educational Progress scores in Maine have been above the national average, they have remained virtually the same since 1992, he said.

Also, he said, 29 percent of Maine’s teachers lacked even a minor in the subject area they are teaching based on 1999-2001 figures. That ranks Maine above the national average and significantly higher than other New England states.

“You can’t have students learn if teachers don’t have a deep and rich understanding of a subject matter,” Sentance said.

Those figures prompted one legislator to call a halt to the “bashing of federal officials.”

“We’re spending all our energies on negativity” instead of attacking the problems, said Rep. Thomas Murphy, R-Kennebunk.

Sentance said the law wasn’t aimed only at urban schools, but also focused on low-income students. Maine has the highest percentage of students eligible for free and reduced lunch in New England, he said.

“Too many poor kids don’t have the right person in front of them – who understands content well enough – and don’t get to progress to the kind of achievement we want to see all kids at,” he said.

The law is “compatible” with Maine’s own academic standards, called Learning Results, because it asks students to demonstrate proficiency in a broad range of subjects, said Sentance.

But Sen. Michael Brennan, D-Portland, disagreed. He said No Child Left Behind contradicts Maine’s academic standards because the federal law relies on the Maine Educational Assessment, a standardized test given in fourth, eighth and 11th grades to determine student progress. The state Learning Results, meanwhile, emphasize local assessments that use a variety of performance indicators.

No Child Left Behind “rewards people who do nothing, but penalizes those who have done well in the past but have slipped slightly,” said committee co-chair Sen. Neria Douglass, D-Auburn. “Kids are learning in fourth and eighth grades what I learned in 10th grade,” she said. “Yes, we could be doing better, but we’re doing so much more than … my generation. Maine is a success story and we ought to be recognized for it.”

Rep. Jeremy Fischer, D-Presque Isle, took the federal government to task for not funding the law adequately. “Why should we live up to standards you set when you’re not participating adequately in funding?” he asked.

Funding for No Child Left Behind and its predecessor, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, has increased 99 percent over five years, Sentance pointed out. Besides, no agency has an appropriation that meets the authorization set when Congress enacts a law. In addition, Maine schools are receiving more federal funds than ever to help low-income and early-grade students improve academically.

Rep. Glenn Cummings, D-Portland, committee co-chair, said the law “conceptually” makes lots of sense and that for a long time schools have maintained that they are succeeding without taking a closer look at whether specific categories of students really are doing well.

But the federal law has “created a policy mess,” he said.

Sentance said No Child Left Behind is written from the perspective of parent and child who are seen as being an important part of the change process. That’s why there’s an emphasis on report cards and disseminating information.

But Sen. Betty Lou Mitchell, R-Etna, said the law was “taking away the opportunity for students to feel good about what they’re doing” by requiring students with special needs to reach the same level as those without.

“It’s discouraging and it’s making people very negative,” she said. “Why not consider making the requirement a percentage of improvement [instead of] assuming every student learns at the same level.”

Sentance said the Department of Education planned on releasing additional guidance next week that will address concerns about students in special education and will provide more flexibility.