Archives

The nation’s new education law, No Child Left Behind, passed with strong bipartisan support a year ago. Senators with ideologies as different as Massachusetts Democrat Ted Kennedy and New Hampshire Republican Judd Gregg joined forces to bring more testing, ambitious teaching goals, and more money to the nation’s schools.

But since then, that bipartisan spirit has evaporated and the chief reason is – the money. Democrats say the law is under-funded. Republicans argue that the increases have been more than generous.

Here in New Hampshire, concern over the law’s fiscal consequences has drawn strong reactions from towns, state lawmakers, and educators. It has also drawn a vigorous defense from No Child Left Behind’s chief Republican sponsor, Senator Gregg.

In the last part of our series on the new education law, NHPR’s Jon Greenberg outlines the debate over money and No Child Left Behind.