Senator Blumenthal To Introduce No Child Left Behind Amendment

Lawmakers in Washington are considering a bill to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act.   Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal plans to introduce an amendment that raises similar concerns as his 2005 lawsuit over the education reform law.

Connecticut was the first state in the nation to challenge Washington over No Child Left Behind.  The state lost the lawsuit.  Former Attorney General Richard Blumenthal had argued that No Child Left Behind was unconstitutional because the cost to Connecticut to meet increased testing requirements exceeded federal reimbursements. 

Now Senator Blumenthal is in Washington, working on a markup of a draft bill to rewrite the law. He says he’ll introduce an amendment to compel the federal government to send more money to states.  "The goal of this amendment and of the lawsuit were  similar -  to stop unfunded mandates by the federal government and assure quality assessments, not only in Connecticut but all around the country."

Efforts to overhaul No Child Left Behind have been stalled in Congress for years, and Wednesday’s markup of the bill was temporarily suspended after Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky used a rare Congressional procedure to delay the process...once again. 

For WNPR, I’m Diane Orson.