State legislatures vs. No Child Left Behind

USA Today has a story that could signal another revival of federalism, this time from the parties who were supposed to support it in the first place: state legislatures.

A bipartisan group of state legislators wants the Bush administration and Congress to give states sweeping new control over how they rate schools, teachers and students under President Bush's No Child Left Behind education law, saying the law as it stands is a 'rigid and inaccurate yardstick' of success.

In a report issued Wednesday, the National Conference of State Legislatures says the law sets unrealistic expectations and defies common-sense notions of how to rate schools.

The report comes as legislatures in several states consider laws limiting the federal government's role in schools.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that the federal government - even our closest elected officials, U.S. Representatives - is unhappy about this turn of events:

In Congress, though, Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, criticized groups that want it "both ways."

"They want the funding No Child Left Behind is providing, but they don't want to meet the high standards that come with it," Boehner said in a statement. "This should not be acceptable to anyone."

So you've got state legislatures saying they want to control the education of their own children, and members of the federal legislature saying that's "unacceptable". NCLB is as bad for our schools as Social Security is for our workers, and the inability of those affected to opt out of either one is what's unacceptable.