President Bush said he would propose increased spending on a number of education programs in the federal budget he sends to Congress next month. However, No Child Left Behind is not currently supported by the budget, and only low income Title I schools who fit the special category of federal legislation receive federal money.

"We don't have enough funding because there are no additional funds attached to No Child Left Behind," said Jane Lindhout, Orem High School principal. "There is some funding attached to the special education legislation and schools have some funding available for special teachers, but only students who are two grades behind can benefit from it."

However, there are a number of students in other subgroups in need of help, such as students from low-income families, who are on the free or reduced lunch program and students with learning disabilities. They are identified by the No Child Left Behind program and play a significant role in whether schools are making adequate yearly progress.

"There is no special funding educationally for them," said Lindhout. "And there seems to be a correlation between some of those students who are economically disadvantaged and who have not had an academic opportunity, so that when they get to high school, they are not achieving at the grade level."

Some people think children with learning disabilities are treated differently.

"The teachers and the principles of schools in Utah are very cruel to children with [learning] disabilities," said a mother from Orem, who wanted to stay anonymous because she is afraid her children might be affected. "They stand outside school busses at the beginning of the year and don't let children with disabilities on the bus. They don't want children to change schools. They just don't want statistics to go down."

In most Utah schools, additional funding comes from trust lands that are owned by the state government. Any school can apply for these grants by submitting a proposal. This money is essential to most schools to support programs other than No Child Left Behind. For instance, Orem high received this money to accommodate children who can't read well.

Lindhout said she doesn't believe "throwing money at problems solves them."

"Obviously the fact that No Child Left Behind came with no additional funding makes it difficult for schools and they can only administer the program," she said.

Debbie Sackett, a mother of five children, said she is very concerned about her children not being able to take all the elective courses they need.

"They either have to give up music or drama or seminary. I don't understand why," she said. "To me these courses are as important as science or math or even more."

The goal of the No Child Left Behind program is to make schools more accountable, but the process of testing is set up so parents don't benefit from it, Lindhout said. Students are tested in tenth grade and their results are compared to the previous tenth grade data. Therefore, test results are not showing how well individual students are doing. They are designed to find subgroups, such as non-English speakers and students from low-income families, and to compare their results with the majority of students to see if subgroups are achieving at the same level.

"We are not calling it a failure; we just say a school didn't meet yearly adequate progress," said Lindhout.



Copyright Brigham Young University 22 Jan 2004