No Child Left Behind Act under attack

WASHINGTON, April 7 (UPI) -- The No Child Left Behind Act, U.S. President Bush's signature achievement in domestic policy, faces an uncertain future.

The law, passed with bipartisan support in 2001, comes up for renewal soon, and both liberals and conservatives want change. But the act has three major supporters, the chairmen of the education committees in Congress, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., and the president himself.

"It's going to be a brawl," Jack Jennings, the Democratic president of the Center on Education Policy, told The New York Times. "The law is drawing opposition from the right because they are opposed to federal interference and from the left because of too much testing."

Republicans have sponsored legislation in both houses that would allow states keep federal aid if they opt out of the testing requirements.

There are complaints from some states about specific provisions in the law. Utah says that requiring all teachers to have degrees in the subjects they teach is an unfair burden on small rural schools. Arizona complains that schools are not given enough time to bring immigrant children up to speed.