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WASHINGTON , D.C. - Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., ranking member on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, have introduced legislation that would help Virginia schools avoid federal sanctions related to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
Virginia education officials have been unable to reach agreement on how to measure the progress of students with limited English proficiency. The dispute with the Department of Education places at risk federal funds for public schools throughout the state, particularly in areas with high concentrations of students for whom English is a second language.
The legislation is identical to a bill introduced by Sen. John Warner, R-Va., and co-sponsored by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., in the Senate, and co-sponsored in the House by Reps. Ric Boucher, D-Va., Jo Ann Davis, R-Va., Frank Wolf, R-Va., and Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., provides that states would avoid NCLB sanctions if:
- The state had an approved assessment plan for the 2005-2006 school year;
- The state had one or more plans subsequently held invalid by the Department of Education, and;
- The governor of the state certifies his state can't effectively train educators on new or alternative assessments and such an examination is not in the best interests of the public school system and the children it serves.
"School officials in Fairfax and Prince William counties worry they could lose funding, and we are doing everything we can to address those concerns," said Davis. "Students in our schools should not suffer because government officials can't work out their disagreements."
"This legislation gives schools and teachers the breathing room necessary to recover and comply with the inflexible No Child Left Behind law," said Moran. "Our children shouldn't be the ones punished for arbitrary decision-making at the Department of Education. NCLB should be rewritten. But in the meantime, improving schools trapped by the system deserve relief." |
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