[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 22 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 22

Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the implementation of the 
                   No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 16, 2003

    Mr. Dorgan (for himself and Mr. Conrad) submitted the following 
 resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 
                          Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the implementation of the 
                   No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

Whereas all students, no matter where they live, should receive the highest 
        quality education possible, and Congress and the President enacted the 
        No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-110) to ensure high 
        academic standards and the tools and resources to meet those standards;
Whereas the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 imposes many new requirements and 
        challenges for States, school districts, and individual educators;
Whereas many States and school districts are struggling to understand the 
        requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, even as additional 
        regulations and guidance continue to be forthcoming from the Department 
        of Education;
Whereas the small size, remoteness, and lack of resources of many rural schools 
        pose potential additional problems in implementing the No Child Left 
        Behind Act of 2001;
Whereas many rural schools and school districts have very small numbers of 
        students, such that the performance of a few students on the assessments 
        required by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 can determine the 
        progress or lack of progress of that school or school district;
Whereas the small number of students in many rural schools can make the 
        disaggregation of testing results difficult and even statistically 
        unreliable;
Whereas some of the options created for students attending failing schools, 
        including the choice to attend another public school and the 
        availability of supplemental tutoring services, simply may not be 
        available in rural areas or may be prohibitively expensive due to the 
        cost of transportation over long distances;
Whereas many rural schools already have shortages of teachers in key subject 
        areas, rural teachers frequently teach in multiple subject areas, and 
        rural teachers tend to be older, and lower paid than their urban 
        counterparts;
Whereas many experienced teachers and paraprofessionals in rural schools may not 
        meet the definition of ``highly qualified'' in the No Child Left Behind 
        Act of 2001 and rural school districts will have difficulty competing 
        with large school districts in recruiting and retaining quality 
        teachers;
Whereas the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 imposes many new requirements on 
        schools and school districts, but the President's budget request for 
        fiscal year 2003 does not provide the level of funding needed and 
        authorized to meet those requirements and in fact cuts funding by 
        $90,000,000 for programs contained in the No Child Left Behind Act of 
        2001; and
Whereas a majority of the States are being forced to cut budgets and local 
        governments are also struggling with revenue shortfalls that make it 
        difficult to provide the increased resources necessary to implement the 
        No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 in the absence of adequate Federal 
        funding: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) the Secretary of Education should provide the maximum 
        flexibility possible in assisting predominantly rural States 
        and school districts in meeting the unique challenges presented 
        to them by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Public Law 
        107-110);
            (2) the President should, in his fiscal year 2004 budget 
        request, request the full levels of funding authorized under 
        the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 for all programs, 
        including the Rural Education Achievement Program (20 U.S.C. 
        7341 et seq.); and
            (3) it is the sense of the Senate that, if the President 
        does not request and Congress does not provide full funding for 
        the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 in fiscal year 2004, 
        Congress should suspend the enforcement of the implementation 
        of the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 
        until full funding is provided.
                                 <all>