Utah is struggling to turn around test scores from nearly a half million children between April, when they take tests, and the time they enroll for the next school year — which, in year-round schools, starts a few weeks after the last one ends. The feds are weighing a request to release scores in October.

The most visible national issue has been adequate yearly progress (AYP), which has ended up "failing" entire schools if only a few students do poorly or don't take tests. In Utah, 10 percent of the state's schools failed to make AYP because of participation. Eighty of the 246 schools not making AYP could attribute the designation to students with disabilities.

Such experiences raise concerns that No Child Left Behind's goal "defies the human experience," said New York Republican Sen. Stephen Saland.

Utah already holds schools accountable for student achievement through U-PASS, which is "homegrown and based on individual student gain," State Board of Education chairman Kim Burningham said in written comments to the task force.

"We believe that No Child Left Behind should either be repealed or, at minimum, significantly revised to enable states to take back the control of their schools serving their most precious resource, their children," he said.

Utah Rep. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, last winter carried a bill that would opt Utah out of No Child Left Behind and the $106 million it brings. She said the law stomps on states rights, requiring schools to be held accountable to Uncle Sam rather than communities and parents.

Saland noted 15 to 20 other states have had similar debates.

The bill was reduced to an interim study item. But not before federal officials converged on Utah's Capitol Hill for a series of meetings on the law — a move Timothy said opened Utah's first real dialogue with the federal government.

Dayton said she could sponsor another bill relating to No Child Left Behind in the 2005 Legislature.

"I don't think we should ever overlook (opting out) as an option," she said. "I'm hoping to persuade the task force to (take on) some of my concerns."

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