The U.S. Department of Education has given Montana an Aug. 15 deadline to report how the state plans to comply with the No Child Left Behind Act.

This formal condition placed on millions of dollars in Title I funds threatens enforcement action, including the withholding of Title I money, if the state doesn’t comply.

State education chief Denise Juneau, who informed federal officials she would freeze proficiency targets at 2009-10 levels, told me earlier she had no plans to reverse course. But she also said she wouldn’t jeopardize schools’ funding either.

So stay tuned. This is getting interesting.