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December 17, 2007

No Child Left Behind a drain on school resources

By STEPHEN BARTLETT

PLATTSBURGH -- The ripple effect of No Child Left Behind's unfunded mandates is spreading through the nation's pool of public schools.

To meet the federal law's requirements, schools are making cuts, shifting resources and asking taxpayers for more money. And as No Child Left Behind, which became law in 2002, awaits possible reauthorization, the North Country is not immune to its impact.

"It's an extremely high cost," said Plattsburgh City School Superintendent James "Jake" Short.

The federal law requires that all students meet reading and mathematics standards by 2014, though needed funds have not followed that sweeping mandate. School districts must now spend more to administer and score tests, examine results and ensure students, especially those with special needs and from poor families, make the cut.

"Conceptually, No Child Left Behind has its merits," said Saranac Central School Superintendent Ken Cringle. "The unfortunate part is there are components like lack of funding that have created difficulties for schools, because in order to address all student-learning needs, schools have had to shift or add resources."

Saranac has been forced to significantly increase its support staff and the number of Academic Intervention Services teachers. In fact, there are already three requests from various buildings for additional teachers next year.

"Unfortunately, that money comes from the general fund, and that creates an extra burden on schools and taxpayers," Cringle said.

Some programs suffer

The federal law has also narrowed curriculum, said Peru Central School Superintendent A. Paul Scott.

"In some cases, that is directly associated with the extraordinary focus on state accountability systems," he said. "We have not had to cut any particular programs as a result of No Child Left Behind, but programs that are measured and for which particular schools are held publicly accountable, those areas get attention and focus, and some other programs have not received attention at the level they should."

About four years ago, Peru reduced some programs and services, to include eliminating an art position. That position has since been restored on a part-time basis.

"Federal spending hasn't been keeping pace with federal mandates," Scott said.

Westport Central School is experiencing the same issues, and while the district has not cut programs to meet federal standards, if the trend of unfunded mandates continues, the district will be hurt.

"We have had to be very careful," said Westport Central School Superintendent Karen Tromblee.

Still, the district has incurred extra costs to train staff for the required testing and accommodate students who need extra help to meet the standards. And if it wasn't for some extra grant money, programs would likely have suffered.

"We are a Reading First school, and for the past three years we have had resources to do a lot of training through the Reading First grant, which also applies to No Child Left Behind," Tromblee said. "So something that might have cost the district money didn't, because it came through Reading First."

The problem in costs is in the layers, Short stressed.



hidden costs

Besides scoring and administering tests, teachers must be trained to examine the data and use it to drive instruction.

"To do that it is consuming around four to seven days for every test and every teacher," Short said. "So multiply that by all the teachers in grades 3-8 and all the tests."

Districts must shell out money to hire subs while teachers are sifting through test data.

"We are either hiring subs or paying teachers in the summertime," Short said. "We have to hire a lot of subs."

The district also has to buy more materials to fill gaps, textbooks are rewritten and must be purchased and new materials are needed that are better-aligned to the standards. And like other districts, Plattsburgh has increased its Academic Intervention Services staff.

The district even hired someone three days weekly to compile data and ensure it is filed with the state Education Department.

Ultimately, Short said, Plattsburgh has shifted resources, made cuts and asked taxpayers for more money.

"This is a classic discussion of unfunded mandates."

sbartlett@pressrepublican.com

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