I picked one Nash: No Child Left Behind is FUNDEDFrom the government website of House Education & the Workforce Committee:
If money were the solution to the problems in America’s schools, those problems would have been solved long ago. But money isn’t the solution. That’s why President Bush and Congress enacted the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). In enacting NCLB, President Bush and Republicans promised education funding would increase, and would be linked for the first time to accountability for results. This is exactly what has occurred.
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No more spending without accountability. Prior to NCLB, states accepted billions of dollars a year in federal education aid, but were not held accountable for using that money to get academic results for all children. Disadvantaged students were written off as unteachable and shuffled through the system without receiving a quality education – and federal law endorsed this practice. Millions of parents were denied the ability to know whether or not their children were learning, and denied the ability to do anything about it if they suspected their children’s schools weren’t getting the job done.
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A 43 percent boost in federal K-12 education funding. Funding for major elementary and secondary education programs, including special education, increased by 43 percent in just the first three years of NCLB. Not one, but three major increases in federal education funding have been provided since NCLB was signed. Funding for Title I, the primary funding stream in NCLB, has increased to historic levels. In fact, because of NCLB, Title I received a larger increase during the first two years of President George W. Bush's administration alone than it did during the previous eight years combined under President Bill Clinton.
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Republicans have increased education spending by more than 142 percent. Since Republicans took control of Congress eight years ago, federal education funding has increased significantly. Funding for the U.S. Department of Education has increased by more than 142 percent under GOP control of the House, from $23 billion in FY 1996 to nearly $56 billion in FY 2004. In fact, the federal government has increased federal education funding so rapidly that states are having trouble spending it all. *
A well-funded opportunity – not an unfunded mandate. Education reform opponents have incorrectly claimed that NCLB is an “unfunded mandate.” As Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation noted in a column last year
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/wm283.cfm), NCLB is neither “unfunded” nor a “mandate.” States are under no obligation to accept the billions of dollars a year in federal education aid NCLB offers. States that do not wish to be held accountable for improving student achievement, or that prefer to do things their own way, can simply decline the money.
In addition, three reports released this year conclude the federal government is providing states with more than enough aid to implement the reforms included in NCLB. Information on each report is included below.
NEW REPORT FROM THE NON-PARTISAN GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE (GAO) CONCLUDES no child left behind is not an unfunded mandate
A new report from the nonpartisan GAO, requested by Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH), upholds Republican claims that the No Child Left Behind Act is not an unfunded mandate. The GAO reviewed more than 500 different statutes and regulations enacted in 2001 and 2002, including Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports about NCLB, and concluded NCLB was not an unfunded mandate.
According to the report, NCLB “did not meet the UMRA’s [Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995] definition of a mandate because the requirements were a condition of federal financial assistance” and “any costs incurred by state, local or tribal governments would result from complying” with conditions of receiving the federal funds.
A copy of the report, “Unfunded Mandates: Analysis of Reform Act Coverage,” can be found at
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04637.pdf.
