No Child threatens existing education funding for noncompliance

State education officials say the federal government is threatening millions of dollars in funding Nevada has been getting for years to force compliance with the Bush Administration's No Child Left Behind Act.

The law has been drawing more and more protest from states around the country - much of it from conservatives who say it will cost state and local governments millions and that it takes away local control over schools. The strongest protests have come from Utah, where a Republican-dominated lower house voted against complying with the act's mandates even if it costs them $100 million a year in federal money.

Utah isn't alone: Lawmakers in Virginia have voted not to comply with any mandates in the law unless they are fully funded and as many as a dozen other states are looking at similar action.

Doug Thunder, Nevada Department of Education deputy superintendent for finance, said Nevada officials have the same concerns. He said while federal officials at several levels have claimed the act contains more than $75 million for Nevada, only about $10 million a year is new money.

But, Thunder said, the federal government has tied $95.8 million in existing funding to the program this fiscal year. He said nearly all that money is in categories and programs which have existed in Nevada for years.

The lion's share of that $95.8 million this fiscal year is under Title I - the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which helps fund programs for the disadvantaged. It's now listed as part of No Child Left Behind.

"But the Title I formula hasn't changed," said Thunder.

Supporters of the law have claimed the amount of federal funding Nevada receives for education has jumped dramatically since No Child went into effect.

Nevada Republicans Sen. John Ensign and Rep. Jim Gibbons have repeatedly said the law contains the money to do the job, with Ensign telling the press and lawmakers last year Nevada would get more than $75 million a year in new funding.

Indeed, the total - not counting Agriculture Department grants for school breakfast and lunch programs - has more than doubled since 2000 from $75 million to $170.9 million this fiscal year. But Thunder says the act isn't the reason. He said nearly all the increase came following the 2000 census, when dramatic increases in Nevada's population were officially recognized by federal formulas.

"It's our growth," he said.

Gibbons recently told school officials there was $19 million worth of new money in the law.

A review of Nevada's education budgets showed the amount is spread over two years, not each year. And nearly half of that - $4.5 million a year - goes for testing and other compliance requirements in the law.

Bottom line: No Child Left Behind contains just over $5 million a year in completely new money to meet requirements of the law.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., told Nevada lawmakers last year the law is one of the biggest unfunded mandates the federal government has ever imposed on the states.

Thunder said the total cost of meeting those requirements has local school districts worried. Lawmakers were told last session the total added cost to Nevada school districts would exceed $180 million over Nevada's two-year budget cycle. In addition to $144 million in Clark County and $25.6 million in Washoe, Carson school officials estimated their costs at $152,300, Douglas at $179,454 and Churchill at $500,000 for the two-year budget cycle.