Monday, February 16, 2009
That's Settled
The recently-enacted stimulus bill includes $13 billion in extra funding for Title I of the No Child Left Behind Act. Since Title I currently receives a little over $12 billion per year and the maximum amount authorized under the law is $25 billion, by my count NCLB is now "fully funded" and I assume those persons and organizations who have cited the lack of such funding as their principle objection to NCLB will now be foursquare in favor of holding all schools accountable for student performance via standardized tests.
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6 comments:
I suppose this fits into the "be careful what you wish (or beg) for" column. Your point is well taken. Now that NCLB can be considered fully funded, there is no escaping the long arm of the regulations. Does this now negate the arguments of fundng when NCLB is reauthorized later this year?
I'm not really sure who you're talking about, here, Kevin. Who really objected only on "unfunded mandate" grounds?
Can they have a few weeks to fix up everything before you send in the accountability inspectors?
There are those who just need to complain. I'm sure the next related complaint will be that the funding is not enough for what they are expected to do.
"Unfunded mandate" has always been only one concern. Equally important is the incoherent measure of student progress. Thankfully, the law is now funded as you say. Now, let's work on fine-tuning the AYP instruments to actually measure what students are learning and acknowledge real progress.
yes, that's $25 billion per year. so you are correct that NCLB is finally "fully funded" for this year. But, oops, since the $13 billion for Title I in the stimulus (really only $10 billion in state grants) is spread out over two years you're actually wrong about full funding.
But hey, glad to know that you consider a one-time infusion of a year's worth of Title I money constitutes "full funding" and makes up for the past 7 years of inadequate investments.
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