HF 1917

as introduced - 83rd Legislature (2003 - 2004) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                             A resolution
  1.2             memorializing the Congress of the United States to 
  1.3             amend the No Child Left Behind Act immediately to 
  1.4             provide more flexibility for states and to include a 
  1.5             mechanism for an automatic waiver from provisions for 
  1.6             school accountability for states such as Minnesota 
  1.7             that have successfully increased student achievement 
  1.8             through their own standards and accountability reforms.
  1.9      
  1.10     WHEREAS, Minnesota leads the nation in high academic 
  1.11  standards and student achievement; and 
  1.12     WHEREAS, in 2001, Congress enacted and the President signed 
  1.13  into law the "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) Act, which has as its 
  1.14  announced purpose bringing high academic standards in reading, 
  1.15  math, and science, and test-based accountability for achievement 
  1.16  of those standards to schools which do not have accountability; 
  1.17  and 
  1.18     WHEREAS, while the NCLB has a laudable purpose and may 
  1.19  impose needed standards and accountability in states which have 
  1.20  failed to hold schools accountable for student achievement, the 
  1.21  federal law is misplaced in its application to Minnesota, a 
  1.22  state which had led the nation with a successful track record of 
  1.23  school accountability; and 
  1.24     WHEREAS, even though Minnesota has demonstrated significant 
  1.25  success in raising student achievement through standards and 
  1.26  accountability, there is no provision in NCLB to grant waivers 
  1.27  from the mandates of NCLB to states such as Minnesota which have 
  2.1   demonstrated records of success; and 
  2.2      WHEREAS, a stated goal of NCLB is to provide flexibility 
  2.3   for states to improve academic achievement; and 
  2.4      WHEREAS, while NCLB contains very expensive mandates, 
  2.5   Congress has not provided sufficient funds for its mandates; for 
  2.6   example, the voluminous computerized record-keeping requirements 
  2.7   of the law will cost literally millions of dollars that 
  2.8   Minnesota does not have, yet must spend in order to meet the 
  2.9   requirements of NCLB; and 
  2.10     WHEREAS, even though Minnesota has high student achievement 
  2.11  and accountability standards, NCLB will require Minnesota to 
  2.12  make several significant changes in testing policies that could 
  2.13  threaten to undermine the success of Minnesota's own successful 
  2.14  education system; and 
  2.15     WHEREAS, it is clear that NCLB represents the most sweeping 
  2.16  federal intrusion into state and local control of education in 
  2.17  the history of the United States, which egregiously violates the 
  2.18  time-honored American principles of balanced federalism and 
  2.19  respect for state and local prerogatives, especially in the 
  2.20  crucial area of education; and 
  2.21     WHEREAS, NCLB may violate the Tenth Amendment of the United 
  2.22  States Constitution which restricts the power of the federal 
  2.23  government to those so delegated by the United States 
  2.24  Constitution and reserves powers not delegated to the federal 
  2.25  government, such as education, to the states and the people; and 
  2.26     WHEREAS, the successful welfare model was not followed by 
  2.27  NCLB, being the model in which the states which met basic 
  2.28  principles of the welfare reform law enacted in 1996 by the 
  2.29  Congress were allowed waivers from the law to encourage state 
  2.30  innovation and flexibility in meeting the federal law's broad 
  2.31  goals; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  2.32     BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  2.33  that it urges the Congress of the United States to amend the No 
  2.34  Child Left Behind Act immediately to include a mechanism for a 
  2.35  waiver from its provisions for school accountability that shall 
  2.36  automatically be granted to states such as Minnesota that have 
  3.1   high student achievement. 
  3.2      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  3.3   State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this 
  3.4   memorial and transmit them to the President and the Secretary of 
  3.5   the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the 
  3.6   United States House of Representatives, and Minnesota's Senators 
  3.7   and Representatives in Congress so that they may be apprised of 
  3.8   the sense of the Minnesota Legislature in this matter.