Maine Rejects 'No Child'
Maine, other states seek adjustments to president's education program
Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 7/1/2003
The federal government may have rejected Maine's request for a waiver from the No Child Left Behind Act, but it did yield some positive results. State Rep. Margaret Craven (D-Lewiston), cosponsor of the nonbinding resolution, says the move was simply "a vehicle to start a conversation" about the national education reform plan. And it worked—officials from the U.S. Department of Education agreed to meet in Washington with representatives from Maine and 10 other states to work out some flexibility in complying with the law. Lawmakers in Maine and other rural states have complained that the Act imposes a one-size-fits-all policy, even though it's designed to address problem schools in large, urban areas. Signed into law in 2002 by President Bush, the law holds schools accountable for student achievement by measuring student progress each year. However, Craven says Maine's testing standards are higher than the national standards, so well-performing schools will be unfairly labeled as "failing" simply because they're unable to show "adequate yearly progress."
"By our estimation, all schools will be deemed failing by 2013," says Craven, who says her state refuses to lower standards so its schools won't be identified as failing.
If a school continually fails to meet the federal requirements, state officials must decide to take over the school, convert it into a charter school, or have it privatized.
