General Accounting Office
May 2004
The GAO issued a report this week that says what Gadfly has long been saying - that NCLB cannot be an "unfunded mandate" because it is not, in fact, a mandate. Though GAO used what People for the American Way calls a "complicated legal definition" of mandates, the point is well made and well taken: NCLB is not an unfunded mandate because its "requirements were a condition of federal financial assistance," i.e. not an absolute requirement of federal law (like paying your taxes). Though PFAW concedes that GAO is technically right, it grumbles that "to meet NCLB requirements, states are forced to use their own state and local funds. If states do not abide by NCLB requirements, they will be denied the resources they need to keep educating children." Whatever. Certainly the report confirms that states cannot both have their cake (the Title 1 money) and eat it (not be held accountable to anyone for academic achievement). To see for yourself, visit this link.
"Education law deemed no mandate," by George Archibald, Washington Times, June 1, 2004," http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040601-122115-1993r.htm
"Paige parses words while states and schools struggle," People for the American Way, May 28, 2004, http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=15749