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'No Child' Law May Be Left Behind

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By PETER BAKER, The Washington Post

Published: November 5, 2007

WASHINGTON - It felt familiar, as if the past five years had not happened - the Republican president and the Democratic senator together again, plotting ways to reshape the nation's education system. As they sat in the Oval Office that day back in January, President Bush and Sen. Edward Kennedy put their schism over the war behind them and focused on the agenda at hand.

"We're going to get moving on this, right Ted?" Bush asked.

Ten months later, the optimism has vanished and the campaign to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind education law has bogged down. Not only has it not passed, but no formal legislation has even been introduced. Last week, Kennedy said it will not happen this year.

This was supposed to be the one area where the embattled White House and the assertive new Democratic Congress would find common ground. But like the rest of Bush's legislative agenda, No Child Left Behind has fallen victim to political deadlock, leaving a president struggling to salvage perhaps his most important domestic achievement with the help of one of his toughest critics.

The politics of No Child Left Behind have always been difficult to navigate. Teachers' unions stand alongside hard-line conservatives against the program while civil rights groups team up with business organizations in support of it.

The threat to the education accountability program comes as test scores hint at progress, with the gap between white children and minorities narrowing. If it is not reauthorized, the original law will remain on the books unchanged, though even supporters, including Bush, think it needs to be updated to fix problems. Moreover, it would represent another punishing defeat for Bush after the death of his plans to overhaul Social Security, immigration and the tax code.

"It's slim to none that it gets reauthorized for a variety of reasons," said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H.

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