Contrary to claims by critics that the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is a seriously unfunded federal mandate, two Massachusetts public officials report sufficient funding for its effective implementation.
In their analysis, to be published in the February issue of Education Next, Massachusetts State School Board chairman James Peyser and economist Robert Costrell find that:
-
The $391 million the federal Department of Education has set aside specifically for administering additional state assessments required by NCLB is more than adequate. Although new funding may be needed in the future, the authors observe that "The needed dollar amounts are relatively small and could be met easily by allocating funds from lower-priority programs."
-
Shortfalls in federal support of school technical assistance, as required under NCLB, are small at present but are likely to grow significantly as more schools are found to be in need of improvement. To fill the gap, the authors call for greater flexibility in federal guidelines. "Much of the gap can be filled," Peyser and Costrell explain, "by allowing states to allocate more of their federal dollars to supporting turnaround efforts in low-performing districts."
-
The authors demonstrate that "No one—neither critics nor supporters of NCLB—really has any idea what it would cost to bring all students to proficiency by 2014, if it can be done at all." However, they show that existing analyses of the issue that report cost estimates of $85–$150 billion or more suffer from clear methodological flaws. Their alternative approach, which focuses on the cost of meeting yearly improvement goals, suggests a national gap of only about $8 billion, concentrated largely in a few states.
-
The estimated cost of testing required by NCLB runs no more than $20 per tested student, a small fraction of average per pupil costs in the United States ($7,392 in 2000, the last year for which official statistics are available).
-
Between 2000 and 2004, federal spending increased from $23 billion to $37 billion dollars, an increase of approximately $300 per pupil. This growth in federal spending far outstrips the $20 per pupil cost of NCLB testing.
"Exploring the Costs of Accountability" can be read in its entirety in the spring issue of Education Next online at www.educationnext.org.
James Peyser is chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Education. Robert Costrell is a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (on leave) and currently serves as chief economist in the Massachusetts Executive Office for Administration and Finance. Peyser is a named defendant in the Massachusetts school finance case, and both Peyser and Costrell testified for the defense.
Education Next is a scholarly journal published by the Hoover Institution, committed to looking at hard facts about school reform. The editors of Education Next are Paul E. Peterson, Professor of Government, Harvard University and Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; Chester E. Finn Jr., President, Fordham Foundation and Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; Marci Kanstoroom, education consultant; Frederick M. Hess, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute; and Martin West, Research Associate, Harvard University.
The Hoover Institution, founded at Stanford University in 1919 by Herbert Hoover, who went on to become the 31st president of the United States, is an interdisciplinary research center for advanced study on domestic public policy and international affairs, with an internationally renowned archive.
Working Press: Contact -
James Peyser
P: 617-338-4073
jpeyser@newschools.org
Robert Costrell
P: 617-727-2040
bob.costrell@state.ma.us
