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NH House Eyes Pulling out of No Child Left Behind

Flikr Creative Commons / xMizLitx

 

A house committee heard public testimony on a bill that would withdraw the state from the federal education requirements under No Child Left Behind.

But pulling out would mean the state would forfeit more than $60 million in federal money.

The sponsor of the bill, twenty-year-old representative Weeden from Dover,  says that No-Child-Left-Behind, or NCLB, has created a culture of teaching to the test that has reduced the quality of education overall.

But the others came to testify that backing out of NCLB would mean the state would lose funding for programs for students with disabilities, students from low-income families, and English Language learners, among others.

Dean Michener with the New Hampshire School Boards Association thinks instead of pulling out, the state should work to change it.

Michener says, "What we want is to see a reauthorization of it but in that reauthorization that’s currently being considered in congress to incorporate these issues and considerations that we want to see as part of the bill."

The committee is scheduled vote on the bill next week. 

 

Sam Evans-Brown has been working for New Hampshire Public Radio since 2010, when he began as a freelancer. He shifted gears in 2016 and began producing Outside/In, a podcast and radio show about “the natural world and how we use it.” His work has won him several awards, including two regional Edward R. Murrow awards, one national Murrow, and the Overseas Press Club of America's award for best environmental reporting in any medium. He studied Politics and Spanish at Bates College, and before reporting was variously employed as a Spanish teacher, farmer, bicycle mechanic, ski coach, research assistant, a wilderness trip leader and a technical supporter.

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