Since the adoption of No Child Left Behind two years ago, several states have threatened to reject federal Title I money so they can sidestep the new law's accountability provisions. In early 2002, just after it was signed, then Vermont governor Howard Dean urged his state's superintendent and lawmakers to consider turning down Title I dollars, which he said amounted to far less than they would need to successfully implement the new accountability provisions. Since then, officials in Hawaii, Alaska and Virginia have made noises about dropping out. (Most recently, Virginia lawmakers passed a resolution condemning the provisions, arguing that they hurt Virginia's own school accountability efforts.) But legislators in Utah this week turned the heat up a few degrees. The education committee of the Utah house voted unanimously to send House Bill 43 - which prohibits the state's public schools from "any further participation in the No Child Left Behind Act" - to the floor. It remains to be seen whether the bill will get a vote and if so, how it will turn out, but Education Department officials have already been dispatched to meet with state lawmakers. Both sides seem to be leaving themselves a way out of the brinkmanship, with some members of the education committee who voted for the bill expressing concern over the $103 million in Title I dollars Utah stands to lose if the bill passes. The committee says it is "willing to work with [federal officials] to make certain the requirements are something that the state of Utah can live with."
"Panel votes to leave ed plan behind," by Ronnie Lynn, Salt Lake Tribune, January 30, 2004
"Feds coming to Utah to discuss No Child Left Behind," Salt Lake Tribune, February 3, 2004