Utahns give NCLB the cold shoulder

Utah legislators, after more than a year of debate, study and negotiations, on Tuesday officially challenged No Child Left Behind's federal reach into Utah public schools.

Lawmakers, blowing the horn of state sovereignty, for two hours debated then passed a bill prioritizing Utah's education goals over NCLB in terms of focus and spending. The action came in a special session.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is expected to sign the bill, which received 10 "no" votes, perhaps as early as today, education deputy Tim Bridgewater said.

But it's uncertain what happens next.

The Education Interim Committee this morning will attempt to pave a path for school bosses, said chairwoman Rep. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem and sponsor of HB1001. Discussion will focus on U-PASS, Utah's budding accountability system, and how it might meet the federal law or be tweaked to meet minority community concerns, she said.

Minority student advocates hope policymakers listen.

"We've got a problem, and it's a big problem: Fifty percent of our kids are not graduating — does anyone hear that?" said Robert Gallegos, president of RAZ-PAC, which this week filed a complaint with the U.S. Department Education alleging Utah does not provide educational equality to minority students. "It's our children bearing the costs and who are the ones going to suffer the consequences of today."

NCLB expects all students, regardless of ethnicity, poverty or disability, to be proficient in reading and math by 2014. If a single group of students doesn't hit the mark, a whole school fails to pass federal muster on public reports.

"That's not fair to educators and it's not fair to parents," said Ronda Rose, legislative vice president of the Utah PTA, which supports HB1001.

Most agree NCLB isn't perfect. But some wonder if it's all some kids have.

"There are children that just because of race, ethnicity, level of income, are failing in our education system," said Rep. David Litvack, D-Salt Lake. "And we can no longer sit by and watch it happen as we have for 40 years."

Last year, 81 percent of all white students were proficient on Utah's language arts Criterion Referenced Tests, compared with about half of Hispanics and American Indians.

The U.S. Department of Education says the achievement gap nationwide has narrowed since NCLB.

But Utah legislators say their own accountability system is superior to the federal mandate.