Colorado Schools Chief, Local Superintendents Spar Over Role of State

Colorado’s 178 district superintendents are embroiled in a polite yet pointed debate with Commissioner of Education William J. Moloney and the state school board over the state’s role in helping districts raise student achievement.

School districts and education departments in most other states face similar questions as they grapple with the pressures of accountability, which the federal No Child Left Behind Act has heightened. But in Colorado, the debate has escalated.

In what they’ve called an unprecedented show of unity, the superintendents there banded together last spring and presented a “white paper” to Mr. Moloney and the eight-member board of education, calling for more inclusion in decisionmaking, better leadership, more service to local...