A Utah state lawmaker is again trying to buck the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Rep. Margaret Dayton, the Republican who earlier this year introduced a bill seeking a boycott of the law, says she will introduce a new proposal when the legislature begins its 2005 session in January.
Her earlier effort was halted after federal officials threatened to withhold $107 million from the state.
Her new bill will play off a clause in the No Child Left Behind Act that says that the federal government is not authorized to control a state’s or school district’s curriculum, or mandate that states “incur any costs not paid for under this act.”
Ms. Dayton’s bill will propose that Utah do its best to comply with the federal law, but that if it doesn’t have resources to meet some requirements, it not be penalized by losing federal funds. “We’re trying to live within the spirit of the law, but we can’t live within the letter of the law,” she said in an interview. “We can’t afford it.”
