Last week, the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) released a report on the costs to states of implementing the testing requirements of No Child Left Behind. Not surprisingly, this doesn't seem to have settled any of the NCLB funding fuss. The report estimates that, over the next seven years, states will shell out anywhere from $1.9 billion (if all states use machine-scored multiple choice tests) to $5.3 billion (if they use a combination of multiple choice and open-ended questions that must be scored by hand). Critics of NCLB's testing requirements quickly brandished the report as evidence of the inadequacy of the $4 billion (over six years) that NCLB guaranteed to cash-strapped states to cover testing costs. Supporters respond that the money is ample, so long as states use the more economical (and equally valid and reliable and NCLB-compliant) multiple-choice tests. Further blurring the situation, the Department of Education and the Education Leaders Council criticized GAO's methodology and contend that the report exaggerated the costs of implementation by ignoring budget dollars already committed by states to existing testing programs.
Characteristics of tests will influence expenses; information sharing may help states realize efficiencies, General Accounting Office, May 8, 2003
"New GAO report shows reform opponents are exaggerating state 'No Child Left Behind' testing costs," House Education and the Workforce Committee Press Release, May 8, 2003
"GAO overestimates mandated testing costs under NCLB," Education Leaders Council Weekly Policy Update, page 3, May 9, 2003
"GAO adds fuel to the education funding debate," by Pamela M. Prah, Stateline.org, May 9, 2003