Money isn't answer to No Child act

By Nevada Appeal editorial board

U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., is to be commended for tackling head-on some of the issues associated with No Child Left Behind requirements on public schools, but we're not sure we like what we're hearing as solutions.

Gibbons met last week in Reno with superintendents from most of Nevada's school districts. The top complaint, as we understand it (the meeting was held behind closed doors) is that No Child Left Behind is an underfunded mandate.

Schools are being required to increase testing, upgrade the qualifications of teachers and concentrate on problem areas such as special education and students who don't speak English. We believe educators when they say they weren't provided enough money to implement No Child Left Behind, yet are expected to meet the strict requirements.

Nevada, for example, is getting a total of $102 million, but only $19 million is available for the added expenses of No Child Left Behind.

However, to frame the issue as a lack of money would be a mistake. The fundamental problem of No Child Left Behind is its inflexibility, forcing states and their local school districts to conform to a federal standard that does plenty of punishing and very little rewarding.

Teachers and school administrators get caught in the middle. Schools which are the neediest and struggle the most, like the students the program seeks to serve, will end up having the hardest time surviving - let alone succeeding.

Raising the bar on student achievement is a worthy goal - for Carson City and the state of Nevada. We'll never stray from the philosophy that local school boards know best how to run local schools.

We hope Gibbons will take that message with him to Washington, rather than one that says Nevada schools need more federal dollars.