WASHINGTON, March 15 More than 50 congressional Republicans from both houses are turning away from U.S. President George Bush's No Child Left Behind Act.
The dissidents, which include former supporters House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, are preparing legislation that would allow states to choose not to participate in the program's testing requirements, The Washington Post reported Thursday.
Burson Snyder, a spokesman for Blunt, said the representative turned against the measure after meeting with school administrators and teachers in Missouri who said the red tape involved with meeting the act's requirements is too burdensome.
Republican critics of the law say schools in suburban districts have been harmed by the law because they were forced to drop educational programs not covered by the act's tests and take funds from other programs to meet the testing mandates.
President Bush and I just see education fundamentally differently, said U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., who wrote the new House bill. The president believes in empowering bureaucrats in Washington and I believe in local and parental control.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
