AUGUSTA – The federal government has rejected Maine’s request for a waiver from the No Child Left Behind Act, the state’s education commissioner said Thursday.

But Susan Gendron added that the U.S. Department of Education appears willing to work with rural states that contend the new law is designed to address problem schools in large, urban areas and doesn’t fit them.

“We hope we can resolve some of the differences,” Gendron said.

Maine lawmakers passed a resolution last week calling on President Bush and Congress to either exempt Maine from the sweeping new federal measure, signed into law in 2002, or fully fund the cost of complying with it.

Maine was the first state to formally request a waiver from the law’s requirements. However, a small but growing number of states have been discussing ways to opt out because of the law’s financial burden.

Supporters of Maine’s resolution say the No Child Left Behind Act is a “one size fits all” federal mandate that’s underfunded by billions of dollars.

They say it threatens to undermine the state’s own high educational standards. The federal law requires students to take annual tests and, if they fail to make progress, imposes increasingly harsh penalties on schools.

Maine’s resolution was passed without debate in the House and along party lines in the Senate, with 18 Democrats in support and 17 Republicans opposed.

Eugene Hickok, federal undersecretary of education, told Gendron that Maine would not be exempted from the law.

But Gendron said federal education officials agreed to discuss concerns with representatives from Maine and 10 other rural states.