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# No Child Left Behind gets an F Local teachers ask lawmakers to drop federal education bill
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/no-child-left-behind-gets-an-f-local-teachers-ask-lawmakers-to-drop-federal-education-bill/
- Published: 2007-09-20T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T02:54:24.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Education, Malibu, #archive-import

*Teachers bashing Bush’s schools bill*

CITYWIDE The local teacher’s union is rallying the troops as it gears up for a campaign against the No Child Left Behind Act, criticizing the bill as doing nothing but leaving students behind in its controversial dust.

Earlier this week, the Santa Monica-Malibu Classroom Teachers Association announced a call to action for all teachers to demand that their representatives in Washington vote against a proposed reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, which is currently sitting in the House’s Education and Labor Committee.

It follows a similar announcement last week by the California Teachers Association, advertising a state-wide effort campaigning against the controversial piece of legislation. The reauthorization of the act is being coauthored by Rep. George Miller (D-California).

“We’re getting to all teachers that have had to live with the unintended consequences every day,” said Harry Keiley, president of the Santa Monica-Malibu teacher’s union.

No Child Left Behind was signed into law in 2002, pledging more funding to schools as well as placing more accountability on the individual schools and districts by way of yearly standardized tests. Many educators have come out in opposition to the act in the past five years, arguing it unfairly punishes schools that don’t perform well on the tests, which they believe is not an accurate indicator of student comprehension.

In Santa Monica and Malibu, where students as a whole tend to score high, teachers complain that they spend too many hours preparing and administering the tests when that time would be better spent on instruction.

Keiley believes that fiddling with the bill and reauthorizing it would do nothing to change the existing problems.

Both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Miller have placed the reauthorization on the “fast track,” according to the California Teachers Association, releasing the draft language two weeks ago. A vote could come to the floor as early as October, according to the association.

Sarah Braff, who teaches third grade at Will Rogers Learning Community, believes the biggest impact of NCLB is making teachers and children feel like failures, unable to measure up to the high standards set forth by the legislation.

“It doesn’t show the amount of improvement in the child in a holistic way,” she said. “It just shows how they did on a particular day on a particular test.”

Braff, who has taught at Will Rogers for 19 years, estimates that she spends several weeks preparing for the test, administering the test and reviewing the results.

It’s a similar case for Don Hedrick, who teaches social science courses at Santa Monica High School. For the 17-year teaching veteran, the spring is usually dedicated to preparation and evaluation.

“Everybody is a little bit wary and everybody is a little bit concerned and even apprehensive about tests,” Hedrick said. “When the tests become an overarching theme, they have a big effect on the way we teach.”

Hedrick said he intends to contact his local congressman, which in Santa Monica’s case would be Rep. Henry Waxman.

Waxman released a statement on Wednesday saying he believes it’s important that teachers’ concerns are taken into account in moving the legislation forward.

“The teacher’s union has raised serious concerns about provisions in the discussion draft reauthorizing No Child Left Behind and its impact on the teaching community,” Waxman said.

Both of the teachers unions — SMMC- TA and the CTA — criticize House Speaker Pelosi and Rep. Miller for failing to make any substantive changes in the reauthorization proposal.

Nadeam Elshami, the spokesman for Pelosi’s Washington D.C. office, pushed the finger pointing away from the congresswoman from San Francisco, saying she is neither leading nor heading the effort.

“The speaker agrees with the national consensus that No Child Left Behind is not fair, not flexible and not funded,” Elshami said. “She looks forward to seeing the product from the Educational and Labor Committee.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 20, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/092007.pdf?ref=smdp.com)