NCLB is not a permanent law. Congress must review the law every few years and decide whether or not to reauthorize it.

A reauthorization was due in 2007. Congress may delay this until after the 2008 election. In every past reauthorization, Congress has strengthened the law and, more often than not, increased the funds available. Funding is now at an all time high.

The Purpose of NCLB

In the 2002 reauthorization, Congress added objective measurements of progress and sanctions for grant recipients who did not use the funds as they were intended.

The purpose of the grant program is to raise the academic achievement levels of disadvantaged students.

Academic Content Standards

States that receive NCLB grants are required to have academic content standards which define what public school students in the state are required to know and be able to do in each grade. The recipient states must develop a test to determine whether or not the students in the public schools are being taught to the state’s minimum level of competency.

No state is currently teaching what it defines a minimum level of education to all the students in its public schools. Most states are able to teach to their minimum reading level and minimum math level less than 75%of the time. Mapping Education Progress 2008

What is the Answer?

• Is more money the answer?
• Is eliminating NCLB grants the answer?
• Is it possible 50 states have unreasonably high curriculum standards?
• Are state’s teacher certification standards high enough to weed out applicants who are unlikely to be able to teach the state’s curriculum?
• Will increasing funding for a supplemental program make a difference?
• Should schools be able to teach minimum reading and math skills regardless of the supplemental program funding they receive?

Is NCLB an Unfunded Mandate?

There is a monitoring mechanism in place designed to monitor and report on unfunded mandates. The Government Accountability Office (formerly the Government Accounting Office) issued an audit report on this in 2004. The GAO did not find that NCLB met the legal standard for an unfunded mandate.

GAO Report on Indentification of Unfunded Mandates - May 12, 2004

"NCLB Is NOT An 'Unfunded Mandate,' New GAO Report Confirms." Discussion of the GAO report from the US Deparment of Education.

Summary of the Government Accounting Office Report.

Reports & Testimonies Summary

Background

The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA) was enacted to address concerns about federal statutes and rules that require state, local, and tribal governments or the private sector to expend resources to achieve legislative goals.

UMRA generates information about the nature and size of potential federal mandates to assist Congress and agency decision makers in their consideration of proposed legislation and rules. However, concerns about actual or perceived federal mandates continue.

GAO-04-637 Unfunded Mandates: Analysis of Reform Act Coverage United States General Accounting Office GAO Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia, Committee on Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate.

Report in PDF Format ( 1094.7KB)

Report Abstract

Report Highlights-PDF

Report in Accessible Text Format

 

38 Years of Federal Spending on K-12 Education

$321 billion dollars (in 2002 dollars) was spent on programs for disadvantaged students between 1966 and 2000. It produced no increase in student reading achievement.

No Child Left Behind provided definitions of “essential components of reading instruction”, a timeline for compliance, and financial penalties in the form of withholding funds for non-compliant states.