No Child Left Behind act reaches Nevada Legislature

The 258-page legislative opus that will implement the federal "No Child Left Behind" act in Nevada was introduced in the Senate, but nobody yet knows how much it will cost.

SB191 was referred to the Finance Committee for study.

"It contains everything necessary to be changed for Nevada to comply," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno.

But the jury is still out on what the federal mandates will cost the state. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday the legislation is "an egregious unfunded mandate." Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said Wednesday it contains more money -- up to $75 million -- for Nevada and won't be a burden on the state.

"I spoke personally to Sen. Ensign and I questioned him," Raggio said.

He said Ensign promised him the money would be available and that the legislation won't be a multi-million dollar drag on the state's education budget. But he acknowledged many other states are concerned it will cost them.

"I'm asking our fiscal staff to verify this," Raggio said. "The analysis from the Department of Education said there wasn't sufficient funding in it. If they're right, I'm going to contact Sen. Ensign and say, 'Hey?'"

Gov. Kenny Guinn, also a Republican, made similar comments following Ensign's Wednesday speech, saying his staff was looking at the bill and that he expected a full fiscal analysis of it when he attends the upcoming National Governor's Association conference.

Ensign said after his speech if there isn't enough money in the legislation, he wants to know why. If not enough money is provided, then the act permits states to drop costly testing requirements.

State legislation introducing No Child Left Behind, SB191 contains a total of $10.99 million in state funding for the coming two years. Some $9.9 million of that is for educational technology necessary to meet federal requirements. Smaller amounts are requested for a consultant at the Legislative Counsel Bureau and for the legislative Interim Finance Committee. And there is $705,000 for the state Department of Education.

None of the money is in Gov. Guinn's proposed budget.

The federal act imposes a long list of requirements on states and local educators -- including an exhaustive annual report on everything from funding to test scores of students, teacher qualifications and alternative education programs.

It calls for plans to improve failing schools and remedial programs for students having troubles. It requires licensing for teachers and criminal background checks for school employees. And it mandates annual testing of students in a variety of subjects, requiring that states ensure students are making progress.

Despite the extensive federal invasion into what has traditionally been an area controlled locally, Raggio said he is all for it.

"I agree with it. We did a lot of this on our own," he said, pointing to the Nevada Education Reform Act of 1997 that took some of the control over student achievement and standards away from local districts.