JURIST - Paper Chase: Utah passes education bill challenging No Child Left Behind

[JURIST] The Utah Legislature [government website] passed House Bill 1001 [legislation status page] Tuesday directing state education officials to comply with state education goals before they consider the provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind [DOE backgrounder] legislation. Utah is the first of many states unhappy with the federal education law [JURIST report] to pass a legislative challenge to it. Parts of the No Child Left Behind Act require states to fund federal education standards with their own monies. Utah legislators are relying on a small provision of federal education law passed by Republicans in the Clinton administration that holds that states cannot be required to spend their own funds to implement federal education provisions. Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. [official profile] says he will sign the state bill when it is presented to him. US Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings [official profile] has warned Utah Senator Orrin Hatch [official profile] in a letter that if Utah applies the provisions of their legislation in contradiction with federal law, it may forfeit $76 million in federal education monies. The New York Times has more.

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