EDITORIAL
Federal education law faces a political battle

Although the highly touted No Child Left Behind federal education law is barely out of the starting gates, there are signs it is already in deep trouble in Congress.

The flaws of the law are manifest, and school administrators in Hawai'i and across the country have struggled to keep up with its requirements. It has been poorly funded from the beginning, and signs are that even today's flow of federal money may be further reduced.

But rather than wash our hands and walk away, the task should be to make No Child work rather than abandon it.

The fundamental concept of higher standards of accountability and extra attention on schools that fail to make adequate measured progress makes sense.

But unless there is an honest effort to fine-tune the law, it may be killed off altogether.

One strong signal on this comes from Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy, who added his considerable clout to the bipartisan effort that got this Bush administration initiative through Congress in the first place. But now, it appears Kennedy is losing his enthusiasm for the idea.

In the next week or so, the Senate will take up an education budget proposed by the Bush administration and the Senate Republicans. Kennedy is far from pleased.

According to New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, Kennedy will have this to say on the Senate floor:

"The bill before us contains harsh and unacceptable cuts to education that will hurt families, students, schools and teachers throughout the country.

Specifically, Kennedy is upset the Bush budget will cut $200 million from No Child.

There is a little smoke and mirrors on both sides of this. It is true that the money committed to this high-profile reform plan was never enough to pay all the bills. But that was clear to everyone — Democrats and Republicans — from the start.

Further, funding for No Child has actually increased over the past several years. Granted, it's still far short of what educators and school administrators would want, but the trend is up.

That means Bush's proposed $200 million trim is off a growth budget, not off the original amount set aside for the initiative.

It's possible some of the rhetoric may be an attempt to position the Bush administration politically heading into the next presidential elections.

That leaves us on a collision course for this important law. Rather than killing it off in a partisan fight, the task should be to restructure it so it works reasonably. If No Child sets impossible demands on school systems that they cannot possibly meet, they will likely just ignore the law. In that scenario, no one wins.

So the task ahead is to reform the law so its most difficult requirements are eased and then seek as full as possible funding for what remains.

Quality education does not "belong" to George Bush any more than it belongs to congressional Democrats. It belongs to all of us.