A new federal education law could raise the price of education by 500 dollars per child.
That's the conclusion of a study by the New Hampshire School Administrators Association, which says the No Child Left Behind Act could leave schools with a big deficit.
President Bush signed No Child Left Behind earlier this year. Some education leaders worry it's an unfunded mandate like special education. The federal government has never lived up to its commitment to fund that program.
But backers of the new law say it's too early to tell how it will affect state finances. They say critics are overreacting.
NHPR's Trish Anderton reports.
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND CALLS FOR YEARLY TESTING TO MAKE SURE STUDENTS ARE LEARNING.
IT SAYS FAILING SCHOOLS HAVE TO HIRE TUTORS FOR CHILDREN WHO WANT THEM.
AND IF THOSE KIDS ASK TO GO TO A NEIGHBORING SCHOOL, THE DISTRICT HAS TO PAY FOR THE BUS.
BUT WHAT IT DOESN?T DO, ACCORDING TO MARK JOYCE OF THE NEW HAMPSHIRE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS ASSOCIATION, IS PAY FOR THOSE THINGS.
28 04 they give you aliitle bit of money to accomp the job, but not nearly enough to do the whole job.
ACCORDING TO THE ASSOCIATION?S ANALYSIS, NEW HAMPSHIRE WILL GET 77 DOLLARS PER CHILD TO MEET THE NEW STANDARDS.
BUT JOYCE SAYS SCHOOLS WILL HAVE TO SPEND AT LEAST 5OO DOLLARS ABOVE AND BEYOND THAT.
THE ESTIMATED PRICE HIKE INCLUDES MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN HIGHER SALARIES FOR TEACHERS AND TEACHER AIDES.
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND SAYS TEACHERS HAVE TO BE HIGHLY QUALIFIED IN THEIR SUBJECTS.
JOYCE SAYS SOME NEW HAMPSHIRE TEACHERS AREN?T.
27 129 * we know in many nh hi schools we don?t have physics cert teachers. So we have a chemistry teacher who teaches a pd or two of physics. From what we understand of these rules that person not highly qual
JOYCE PREDICTS THE STATE WILL ALSO SPEND MORE ON SPECIAL EDUCATION, SINCE HE BELIEVES MORE CHILDREN WILL BE LABELED SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENTS UNDER THE LAW.
THEN THERE?S INCREASED SPENDING ON TECHNOLOGY.
ALL THOSE NEW REQUIREMENTS ARE MAKING SOME SUPERINTENDENTS NERVOUS. ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY WERE ALREADY WORKING ON REFORMS.
SCOTT ANDERSEN IS SUPERINTENDENT OF THE INTERLAKES SCHOOL DISTRICT IN MEREDITH.
We have our own staff devel plan. We are implementing our plan. Now with nclb we may have to totally derail our plan just to meet the federal mandates.
THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SAYS THERE MAY BE AN UNFUNDED MANDATE, BUT IT PROBABLY ISN?T AS BIG AS THE REPORT SUGGESTS. AND THE LAW HAS SUPPORT FROM SOME KEY LEGISLATORS. REPUBLICAN JANE OHEARN OF NASHUA CHAIRS THE STATE SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE. SHE SAYS MANY DISTRICTS ARE ALREADY DOING THE KINDS OF THINGS THE LAW CALLS FOR, AND IF THEY AREN?T THEY SHOULD BE.
If we?re improving our teachers we?ve been doing it right along. Now we?re just using programs that are research-based, that work.
NEW HAMPSHIRE ISN?T ALONE IN ITS CONCERNS.
We?re hearing from a lot of states that there will be addl costs, beyond what the feds are paying for.
ANALYST MIKE GRIFFITH OF THE DENVER-BASED EDUCATION COMMISSION OF THE STATES, SAYS SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS AROUND THE COUNTRY ARE SQUINTING AT THE NEW LAW WITH WORRIED EXPRESSIONS.
HE SAYS THEY?RE REACHING SIMILAR CONCLUSIONS, BUT HE ADDS IT?S TOO EARLY TO KNOW FOR SURE HOW THE LAW WILL AFFECT STATES.
006 35 it wouldn?t surprise me that you could come up with a figure of 500 per kid. // right now I think any number is a soft number, bc it?s a new thing, we don?t nknow exactly what needs to be done.
16 107 states have known what?s in the law for some time. It?s not been a secret.
DANIEL LANGEN IS A SPOKESMAN FOR THE FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.
HE SAYS THERE IS NO UNFUNDED MANDATE.
15 156 we know that every state has received historic increases in fed funding over last several years including this year. We believe that those funds will help achieve the goals of the law.
THE LAW?S SUPPORTERS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE AREN?T QUITE THAT CONFIDENT. WARREN HENDERSON IS A REPUBLICAN FROM EXETER. HE CHAIRS THE HOUSE EDUCATION COMMITTEE. HENDERSON SAYS NOBODY SHOULD LEAP TO CONCLUSIONS ABOUT THE LAW?S IMPACT.
12 07 what we need to do is do our best is to get the facts and measure the implications and not freak out if the first analysis is troublesome. Instead what we should do is have faith in our cong delegation that if theres probls they didn?t foresee they?ll fix it.
BUT EVEN IF WASHINGTON ULTIMATELY OFFERS SOME LEEWAY, THE STATE STILL HAS A LOT OF WORK TO DO. STATE EDUCATION COMMISSIONER NICK DONOHUE.
Tough time etc we?ll fix it
AND THERE ISN?T TOO MUCH TIME TO WORK THINGS OUT. THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION HAS SET A DEADLINE OF NEXT MAY. BY THEN, THE STATE MUST PASS LAWS TO ENACT TESTING, MEASURE PROGRESS, AND OTHERWISE MAKE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND A REALITY. FOR NHPR NEWS
