Spellings Lobbies for a Stronger No Child Left Behind Law

CHICAGO _ U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings spent the day in Chicago Thursday, lobbying students, teachers, school officials and business leaders to support proposed changes to the No Child Left Behind law.

Visiting a Near West Side charter high school and business leaders at the Aon Center in downtown Chicago, Spellings praised the program but called for significant changes that would, among other things, give school districts more power to help students trapped in chronically failing schools.

“I am convinced that we are on the right track with No Child Left Behind, but I like to say that we are pleased, but not satisfied,” Spellings said to representatives from the Illinois Business Roundtable. “We need to start paying more attention to the chronically underperforming schools, where we have children that have been trapped for years and years.”

Spellings was in town to promote changes the Bush administration is hoping to push through Congress as part of the renewal of the 5-year-old law. The law, which requires schools to test students in math and reading and holds schools accountable for the results, comes up for reauthorization this year.

The new proposals touch virtually every aspect of public education, from high school reform to teacher quality to penalties for poorly performing schools. Some proposals, such as relaxing requirements on testing special education students and pumping more money into high schools, are likely to win wide support, she said.

But Spellings spent most of her time pushing the more controversial parts of the blueprint, including vouchers for students to attend private schools, allowing districts to bypass state-imposed charter school caps, letting districts circumvent teacher contracts to transfer teachers to the worst schools.

“For the promise of No Child Left Behind to be real, we must provide more vigorous and robust tools to address the chronic underperformers,” Spellings said. “We cannot have kids trapped in these schools year after year after year.”

The proposal received a positive response from the state’s business leaders, who have complained for years that students graduate from high school without the skills necessary to succeed in college or the workforce. They pressed Spellings for tougher measures.

Philip O’Connor, vice president of the Illinois market of Constellation NewEnergy Inc., suggested the vouchers be offered to children after they’ve attended a failing school for two years. Right now, the plan calls for a voucher after five years.

Pat Ryan Jr., CEO of the software company Incisent Technologies, pressed Spellings to help with the charter school cap.

“It does not appear that Illinois, on its own volition, will do anything to expand the charter school cap,” said Ryan, who runs a charter school on the city’s West Side. “We are in a box on how to solve this problem, and I wonder what can be done.”

Spellings said Bush’s plan would allow districts to override the state cap and said she intends to fight for that aspect of the proposal.

Spellings had a tougher time with a question from Noble High School senior Carolina Gines. She asked the secretary what she planned to do to help students who excel in high school, but are in the country illegally, to obtain college scholarships. Students in the country illegally are not eligible for some government-funded scholarships.

Spellings said the issue could be debated when Congress takes up immigration legislation this year.

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