Some States Skeptical of NCLB Waivers

Big strings attached to bid for flexibility

Just months after the Obama administration offered states the opportunity to escape from some of the most demanding provisions in the No Child Left Behind Act, a handful have either rejected that proposal or voiced serious reservations about it, saying the rules for securing a waiver are equally or nearly as impractical as the ones set in current law.

The skeptics include the nation’s most populous state, California, as well as rural ones such as Montana—where the schools chief has said the state’s rejection of the offer is final—and Nebraska and Wyoming, which as of earlier this month had not decided whether to apply but have deep concerns.

“The biggest broken pieces of No Child Left Behind are not fixed” through the waivers, said Denise Juneau, Montana’s state superintendent of public instruction . “Taking on additional requirements to get a waiver that isn’t really a...