Baltimore Takeovers Prevented

Md. Lawmakers' Victory a Model for NCLB Foes?

The Maryland legislature’s success in blocking a state takeover of low-performing schools in Baltimore under the No Child Left Behind Act raises the prospect of political resistance in other states that might attempt such intervention.

While no other state has yet invoked the federal law to take control of a school, the experience in Maryland could be an indicator of things to come as state education officials try to implement the most dramatic sanctions called for in the 4-year-old law.

“If we’re going to do this work, then the people who are supposed to be empowered to do it should be allowed to move forward,” said Valerie A. Woodruff, the president of the Washington-based Council of Chief State School Officers and the...