Ed funding bill clears committee

School districts shouldn't be held hostage financially to meet monetary match requirements of federal mandates such as No Child Left Behind — or even to get some of the upcoming federal stimulus money, says Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem.

Dayton's bill, SB185, amends legislation on federal education requirement agreements. The bill passed favorably through the Senate Education Standing Committee Monday.

"It strengthens the state to say the federal government can't just automatically require us to take the money with the strings attached," Dayton said.

Her bill puts a cap on the amount of money a district can agree to without approval from the governor or legislator. The legislation further emphasizes the state should know before a superintendent signs on for "a bureaucratic nightmare" of monetary obligations. A district's agreement is null and void unless the Legislature approves.

Dayton's bill increases the monetary thresholds in an identical bill she passed last year.

For example, the current bill reads: Before legally binding the state by executing a federal education agreement that may cost education entities more than $100,000 annually from state and local monies to implement, a school official shall submit the proposed federal education agreement to the governor for the governor's approval or rejection. One of Dayton's changes raises that figure to $500,000.

State Superintendent Patti Harrington spoke out in favor of the bill, along with Tamara Lowe, president of the Utah School Boards Association.

Jordan School District Superintendent Barry Newbold said if his district met all the requirements of NCLB, it would cost the district $182 million — and NCLB would only give the district $6.3 million.

Newbold said he supports Dayton's bill, calling it a "step in the right direction."

The money Utah gets for NCLB is less than 10 percent of the state's public education funding and "yet there are so many requirements," Dayton said.

To prove her point, Dayton held up a copy of the 2-inch-thick booklet containing the federal mandate. She refers to NCLB as "in conflict with itself" and "totally convoluted."

NCLB mandate is intended to help schools ensure all students are succeeding — regardless of ethnicity, income, disability or English skills — and are proficient in language arts and math by 2014.

The NCLB program is slated for reauthorization by Congress.

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