Official Warns Texas on School Testing

By ROBERT DOGE and TERRENCE STUTZ

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings had tough words for Texas on Friday: Get with the program on testing special education students – or else.

Ms. Spellings said that under President Bush's controversial No Child Left Behind Act, Texas education officials cannot continue to exempt 9 percent of the state's pupils – or nearly 500,000 children – from federal testing rules.

"I intend to take a very strong approach to Texas," Ms. Spellings, herself a Texan, told reporters Friday in Washington, noting that she has authority to withhold a portion of federal education funds from the state. That could cost the state up to $12 million next year.

"No Child Left Behind does not mean no fewer than half a million left behind," she said. "It means no child left behind."

The federal law has limited the share of students that can take easier tests to 1 percent of a state's enrollment, a standard that Ms. Spellings said would be relaxed. Texas education officials revealed in February that they were overriding the rule. Had they not done so, nearly half of Texas school districts would have fallen short of federal standards that require annual improvement.

Officials in Austin said they regretted the secretary's remarks but added they will continue to use an alternative test when hundreds of thousands of special education students are tested again in less than two weeks.

"Texas schools are caught between conflicting state and federal laws, both of which were signed by George W. Bush," said Debbie Ratcliffe, a spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency. In 1997, when he was Texas governor, Mr. Bush signed a law requiring that most special education students take an alternative exam.

Ms. Ratcliffe said the agency has not told school districts to reduce the number of special education children taking alternative tests.

"We told school districts to keep doing what is most appropriate for these children," she said.

At least 30 states have objected to the president's 2001 education initiative. States complain that the Bush administration has not provided enough funds to implement the program and that its testing regimen is too rigid.

The law has been a signature part of Mr. Bush's White House campaigns. When he first ran for president in 2000, he pointed to similar reforms in Texas as having turned the state's struggling school system around.

So today's conflict with the president's home state carries an extra sting for the administration, noted Ms. Spellings, who was an education adviser to Mr. Bush when he was governor and a key architect of the federal law as his domestic policy adviser in his first White House term.

"I am disappointed, absolutely," she said.

Ms. Spellings' remarks were in response to a reporter's question and came a day after she announced a new initiative to give states more flexibility with the law. It was one of a series of steps launched in early 2004 to give states more leeway in implementing the law's goal – that all students be proficient in English, math and science by 2014.

Under the latest initiative, states would be allowed to administer alternative tests to up to 3 percent of students, such as the learning-disabled. The previous limit was 1 percent.

But Ms. Spellings said the 9 percent given alternative exams in Texas was too high. And she warned the state would not be eligible to take advantage of the new flexibility if it does not comply with federal standards.

"Nine percent is not on the table, period," she said.

State Education Commissioner Shirley Neeley says she has the authority to grant appeals to school districts contesting their accountability ratings. Dr. Neeley was in Washington on Thursday for a meeting of state education chiefs where Ms. Spellings announced the new rules.

"Federal law clearly gives states the right to determine their appeals process, and it was through that authority that we granted relief to school districts," Ms. Ratcliffe said.

Dr. Neeley's actions prevented hundreds of school districts from flunking the federal standards.

Nearly 92 percent of the state's 1,037 regular school districts made adequate progress for the 2003-04 school year. That left 86 districts failing, including some in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

If Dr. Neeley had not approved the appeals of 431 districts this year, the failure rate among Texas districts would have been nearly 50 percent.

Ms. Spellings said Texas officials were recently given a detailed report about their progress under the law, which included their shortcomings in testing special-education students. Once the state receives the report, it has 10 days to respond.

Kerri Briggs, a federal senior policy adviser, said state officials' response would be part of a negotiating process. She could not say how long the process would take, but said the department is eager to resolve the issue.

If the state does not comply, Ms. Briggs said, the secretary could withhold up to $12 million of the $1.2 billion the state is projected to get in 2006 Title I funds. But she said the department wants to resolve the issue without such a serious confrontation.

"That is never a first course of action," Ms. Briggs said. "No one wants to take money away from anyone."

Robert Dodge reported from Washington and Terrence Stutz from Austin.