This letter to the editor by Christopher Wright, Acting Secretary's Regional Representative, Region IX, appeared in the Tucson Citizen on March 23, 2007.

Re: your March 14 editorial "Many children left behind: Act needs rewrite":

Ridiculous, Dickensian images of joyless children, helpless teachers and heartless schools are no substitute for reasoned argument about the No Child Left Behind Act.

Our response to your editorial is simply to resort to the facts:

• NCLB is not an unfunded mandate. Numerous independent studies, including one by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, confirm this. States may opt out of the law; none has done so. Arizona receives nearly 200 percent more in overall federal education funding since President Bush took office, including $144 million more in Title I funding for the state's neediest children.

• States develop their own academic standards and assessments. And they receive unprecedented flexibility in targeting federal funds to meet students' "needs," whether through proven reading instruction, professional development, technology grants, grants for English-language learners and so on.

• NCLB does not mandate curricula; the law specifically prohibits federal control of local curriculum. Under the law, "core academic subjects" are defined to include science, history, geography, civics, economics, foreign languages, and, yes, even the arts.

What are the results in Arizona? A 14-point increase in third-grade math proficiency since 2002, and double-digit reductions in the math achievement gaps between Hispanic and American Indian third-graders and their white classmates.

Repeated myths cannot change reality. The No Child Left Behind Act is working for Arizona's kids and deserves to be reauthorized.

Christopher Wright
Region IX Representative
U.S. Department of Education
San Francisco