Indiana eyes waivers from No Child Left Behind law

Indiana education officials say they're encouraged by the federal government's decision to grant waivers from the No Child Left Behind law only to states carrying out ambitious school improvement initiatives.

The Herald-Times in Bloomington and WIBC-FM 93.1 in Indianapolis report the state expects to seek a waiver that could release local districts from being labeled failures even if students show progress.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett said there are better ways to measure growth now than when the federal accountability law was passed. Indiana has its own accountability law that could lead to a state takeover of up to seven schools, and Bennett said having two sets of standards is problematic.

No Child Left Behind assesses performance in 37 racial and economic subgroups.

"One student in one school can count in up to 21 different subgroups. Potentially you have 21 chances to fail, and one chance to pass," Bennett told WIBC.

Indiana's waiver request will ask the government to accept the state's growth-based accountability law as the standard for meeting federal requirements. Bennett said Indiana also plans to seek more flexibility in how it spends federal education money.

Department of Education spokesman Alex Damron told The Herald-Times the state thinks waivers should be given only to states committed to flexibility, accountability and innovation.

The decade-old federal law requires every student to be proficient in science and math by 2014. It is four years overdue for reauthorization, and Education Secretary Arne Duncan says 82 percent of U.S. schools could be labeled failures next year if the law is not changed.

In Indiana, 94 percent of school districts met the federal standards in 2010.

Waivers, which would likely impact schools starting in the 2012-2013 school year, would give schools some relief from the looming deadlines to meet testing goals.

But Richland-Bean Blossom school Superintendent Steve Kain said he isn't sure waivers are a good way to go.

"I never like waivers," he told The Herald-Times. "You play the game by the rules. If you don't like the rules, get the rules changed. A waiver is just backing off the standard we were being held to. So, if we're going to have waivers all the time, why have standards?"