That said, Harrington wonders if the state school board can even attempt to enter into this latest pilot of No Child Left Behind, which costs schools well over $1 million to implement. That could mean the Legislature and governor would have to give the green light, Harrington said.

Also, Utah again is seeking to have its U-PASS accountability OK'd for its plan to meet No Child Left Behind requirements. That request has been dismissed because U-PASS does not hold schools accountable for every group of students. It only carves out two groups: Caucasians who can afford school lunch, and everybody else.

No Child Left Behind separately tracks progress of several groups of ethnic minorities, students with disabilities, students who are low income and English language learners in determining whether schools make annual progress toward having every child reading and doing math well by 2014.

Harrington acknowledges she does not want to submit to the 100 percent proficiency goal.

"If that has to be part of the plan, I know we can't go there ... that proficiency goal I cannot with integrity agree to because it's not going to happen," Harrington said. "It's just not reasonable."

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E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com