Gov. Dean Questions Wisdom Of Accepting ESEA Money

By Bess Keller

Giving voice to mounting frustration among state officials, the governor of Vermont says it might make sense for his state to reject $26 million in federal money rather than comply with the new education law President Bush engineered.

Gov. Howard Dean called the reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act "a terribly flawed bill" in an interview late last month with an Associated Press reporter.

The Democrat said that Vermont would have to rebuild its comprehensive testing system to meet the requirements of the "No Child Left Behind" Act of 2001, the revision of the ESEA.Under the law, states must annually test all students in reading and mathematics in grades 3-8 to qualify for federal aid aimed...