Congress has begun hearings on the reauthori­zation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Created in 2002, No Child Left Behind increased federal fund­ing for K–12 education and established new require­ments for state and local school systems across the country.

As part of the NCLB reauthorization, Congress should consider various proposed reforms. In March, Senators Jim DeMint (R–SC) and John Cornyn (R–TX) and five other sponsors introduced the Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success (A-PLUS) Act (S. 893). In the House of Representatives, Representative Pete Hoekstra (R–MI) and 60 cosponsors are sponsor­ing another version of the A-PLUS Act (H.R. 1539).

Both versions of the A-PLUS Act are geared to addressing problems that have become apparent dur­ing the implementation of No Child Left Behind as well as systemic problems that have persisted in fed­eral education policy for decades. Specifically, the pro­posals would promote greater state and local control in education while maintaining true accountability through state-level testing and information reporting to parents to ensure transparency.

NCLB After Five Years

For more than four decades, Congress has sought to improve public education in America by creating new federal programs and increasing federal spending on education. In fiscal year (FY) 2007, the federal gov­ernment will spend $23.5 billion on programs that fall under the original Elementary and Secondary Educa­tion Act of 1965, which is now called No Child Left Behind.

Five years have passed since President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The Bush Administration's original blueprint for NCLB included some valuable reform principles, such as reducing bureaucracy, promoting state flexibility, and expanding parental choice in education. How­ever, those valuable reform ideas were either watered down or eliminated during the legislative process on Capitol Hill in 2001. The bill that emerged from Congress greatly expanded federal power in education while doing little to eliminate bureaucracy, restore state and local control of edu­cation, or empower parents.

The Federal Burden on Education. No Child Left Behind significantly increased federal spending on and authority over public education in America. According to the U.S. Department of Education, the Bush Administration's budget request for FY 2008 would increase NCLB spending to $24.4 billion—a 41 percent increase over FY 2001 spending.[2] This budget request also includes a 59 percent increase in Title I grants to local education agencies.

Yet these funding increases have also increased the administrative burden on state and local author­ities. No Child Left Behind created new rules and regulations for schools and significantly increased compliance costs for state and local governments. According to the Office of Management and Budget, NCLB increased state and local governments' annual paperwork burden by 6,680,334 hours at an estimated cost of $141 million. Moreover, the fed­eral government now has authority over issues that once were reserved to the local level, such as student testing policies.

Unintended Consequences. The centerpiece of the No Child Left Behind Act is a requirement for annual state-level student testing, information reporting to the public, and a series of mandated sanctions for schools that fail to demonstrate ade­quate yearly progress toward state achievement benchmarks. The purpose of this provision was to shift the focus of federal education policy from inputs to outputs and student achievement. How­ever, five years of experience implementing NCLB has exposed structural problems in the require­ment.

Under NCLB, states must test students in every grade between 3rd grade through 8th grade and once in high school. The law requires states to report on the performance of various subgroups of student populations, such as ethnic minorities, those from low-income families, and those with limited English skills. Students and student sub­groups are required to show increasing gains in stu­dent proficiency scores. The law sets a goal that all children will score proficient by 2014.

While the Department of Education sets the broad framework of this accountability system, the states maintain control of state-level tests and per­formance measures. This means that states have the responsibility for defining "proficiency" and setting performance levels on state tests. As a result, some states have lowered standards on state tests to avoid federal sanctions. Ironically, while No Child Left Behind has sought to improve public school accountability and strengthen standards-based reform across the nation, the law's perverse incen­tives are threatening to eliminate transparency by encouraging all states to lower standards to avoid federal sanctions.

Funds Wasted on Ineffective Programs. One of the problems in President Bush's original No Child Left Behind proposal was that it continued to fund ineffective programs. "This ‘program for every prob­lem' solution has begun to add up—so much so that there are hundreds of education programs spread across 39 federal agencies at a cost of $120 billion a year," wrote the White House in February 2001. Regrettably, this problem persists.

For FY 2008, the Bush Administration has pro­posed eliminating 44 Education Department pro­grams that cost taxpayers a total of approximately $2.2 billion annually. Yet the White House has unsuccessfully proposed terminating many of these same programs in previous years. These are pro­grams that the Bush Administration states "have achieved their original purpose, duplicate other programs, are narrowly focused, or unable to dem­onstrate effectiveness." For example, the $2.2 mil­lion Women's Educational Equity Act promotes educational equality for women and girls, yet female students generally outperform male students on test scores and other performance measures.

In addition, Members of Congress earmark hun­dreds of millions of dollars in federal education spending for specific projects. According to the Office of Management and Budget, the FY 2005 Department of Education budget includes 1,199 earmarks totaling $483 million. The department's Office of Innovation and Improvement budget included $289 million in earmarks, including $198,000 for the Akron Zoological Park and $248,000 for the Alaska Sea life Center in Seward, Alaska, for its Marine Ecosystems Education Pro­gram. Education earmarks divert scarce taxpayer resources to Members' pet projects, which they cre­ate outside of the traditional legislative process.

Limited Flexibility and Bureaucracy. One of the four pillars of the White House's original No Child Left Behind proposal was to reduce bureau­cracy and increase flexibility: "Additional flexibility will be provided to states and school districts, and flexible funding will be increased at the local level." The proposal called for a charter state option to allow states and districts with quality accountability systems to enter into performance agreements with the U.S. Secretary of Education. Under these agreements, states would be freed from categorical program requirements and could use funding on new state-directed initiatives.

However, this proposal to improve state-level autonomy and flexibility was not included in the No Child Left Behind Act that emerged from Congress. Instead, the law included a modest "ed-flex" provi­sion to allow states to apply for the limited ability to redirect funding between existing federal pro­grams. This is very limited flexibility compared to the original state charter option that would have substantially altered the relationship between the states and the federal government.

Senators DeMint and Cornyn and Representative Hoekstra have introduced similar versions of the A-PLUS Act in the Senate and House of Representa­tives. Both versions would fundamentally reform the relationship between the states and the federal government in K–12 education. Both versions would restore state and local control in education while maintaining the focus on improving academic achievement by protecting state-level academic standards and testing.

The Benefits of the A-PLUS Act While there are differences between the Senate and House versions of the A-PLUS Act, they share common benefits. Both versions would:

• Return control of education policymaking authority to the state and local levels. Both ver­sions of the A-PLUS Act would allow states to take responsibility for education policymaking. Governors, state legislators, and state secretaries of education would make policy decisions about local schools, moving the decision-making pro­cess closer to school leaders, teachers, parents, and taxpayers. This would give states and local communities the opportunity to take full respon­sibility for improving educational opportunities in local schools. Citizens would no longer have to look to the federal government for solutions to improve America's schools.
• Free state and local governments from the administrative and compliance burden of fed­eral education programs. Because participating states could opt out of many federal program requirements, the A-PLUS Act would signifi­cantly reduce the federal administrative and compliance burden on states and local education agencies. Under the current system, scarce resources are expended just to complete the paperwork for federal programs. Under A-PLUS, this compliance burden would be lifted, freeing state leaders to redirect funds toward programs that more directly improve student learning.
• Allow states to consolidate wasteful or ineffi­cient programs. A-PLUS would allow states to consolidate programs under the "performance agreement" or "declaration of intent." This would enable state leaders to identify and eliminate in­effective programs. Policymakers have already identified a number of ineffective or unnecessary education programs in the U.S. Department of Education. A-PLUS would give states the oppor­tunity to end these programs and redirect re­sources toward others that show greater promise.
• Protect transparency and accountability for results. Both versions of the A-PLUS Act would protect state-level testing, academic transpar­ency, and accountability to the public. As noted, the current No Child Left Behind testing require­ments have created a troublesome incentive for states to lower state standards to avoid federal sanctions. The A-PLUS Act would allow states to maintain state-level testing and information reporting to parents and the public. It also would ensure that states maintain transparency for results while allowing for greater state flexibility to design a testing system that serves local needs. States would have the freedom to implement new testing models without strict oversight from the federal government.
• Restore federalism. Giving states greater free­dom to control funding and establish education policies would foster an education reform envi­ronment that is conducive to innovation, experi­mentation, and improvement. Many of the most promising education reforms have been imple­mented at the state level and have spread across the country with innovative states leading the way. The proliferation of charter schools, school vouchers, and education tax credits is one exam­ple of the innovative education reform ideas that have spread through federalism. The develop­ment and proliferation of state standards and testing policies in the 1990s is another. Allowing states to exercise greater control over education funds and to establish policies could well facili­tate new improvements and innovations throughout the country.

Conclusion

As Congress considers reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, it should recognize the need for fundamental reform of federal K–12 education policy. Both versions of the A-PLUS Act would change the course of federal education pol­icy, which since 1965 has followed a path of greater federal control of education, the proliferation of bureaucracy, higher administrative costs, and new federal programs.

Rather than continuing to expand the federal government's role in education, the A-PLUS Act would return authority to the state level by allowing states to opt out of No Child Left Behind. States and local policymakers would have greater ability to use federal education funds on local priorities. States could end ineffective or inefficient federal programs and target resources toward more pressing needs. Fewer resources would be consumed by adminis­trative costs and the level of bureaucracy needed to comply with existing federal rules and regulations. States, rather than the federal government, would direct state standards and assessments and maintain transparency for results through public reporting.

After more than four decades of unsuccessful federal intervention, it is time for Congress to con­sider a new approach. Returning greater authority to the states would empower parents, local school leaders, state policymakers, and governors to take responsibility for local schools and implement reforms to strengthen public education.

Dan Lips is Education Analyst in the Domestic Policy Studies Department at The Heritage Foundation.

The complete version of this commentary with footnotes can be found on Heritage.org.