Ed. Dept. Seeks Bids for New NCLB Help Centers

The Department of Education is seeking proposals for 21 comprehensive centers spread across the country that will provide expertise to states and school districts working to meet the demands of the No Child Left Behind Act.

The new centers, which are financed at $43 million this fiscal year and possibly as much as $60 million in fiscal 2006, will replace a web of comprehensive assistance centers and mathematics-and-science centers that span the country now. Unlike the old centers, though, the new ones will be more tightly focused on schools’ needs under the 3-year-old federal law.

“People have been complaining about the lack of funding for technical assistance for NCLB,” said James W. Kohlmoos, the president of the National Education Knowledge Industry Association, a Washington-based trade group for educational research organizations. “Well, now it looks like there will be almost $60 million in technical assistance the department will be able to leverage in implementing...