Houston Democrats

The NCLB refers to schools as local educational agencies (LEAs). An LEA includes public and private schools that receive funding under the ESEA. Private schools with a religious objection to service in the Armed Forces that is verifiable through corporate or organizational documents or other materials are not required to comply with the law.

Under Section 9528, an LEA must release a student's directory information, including a student's name, address, and telephone numbers to a military recruiter, unless the student's parent has "opted out" of providing the information. Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), an LEA must provide at least one notice to parents of the types of student information that it releases publicly (i.e. directory information). However, some schools have been late in notifying parents, and depending on a particular school's definition of directory information, other items about the student could also be released to military recruiters, such as:
- an electronic mailing address,
- a photograph
- date and place of birth
- major field of study
- dates of attendance at school
- grade level
- participation in officially recognized activities and sports
- the weight and height of members of athletic teams
- degrees, honors, and awards received
- the most recent educational agency or institution attended.

Click here to view the US Department of Education’s sample Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) Model Notice for Directory Information.

Recruiting strategies may range from calling students to ask about what their plans are after graduating from high school, to setting up booths in hallways and cafeterias at lunch time. Another method of recruiting is the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). In 2002, 1.25 million students in over 14,000 schools took the ASVAB, about 90,000 more than the number of students who took the ACT college entrance exam (Source). The ASVAB is mandatory to enter into any military branch. Its main purpose is to classify prospective service members into suitable jobs. The test is offered to schools free of charge if they are willing to use it as a student aptitude assessment. Each test costs the Pentagon $150. However, some schools make the test mandatory.

The impetus for Section 9528 is the result of the military having trouble getting into 15% of the nation’s high schools to recruit. The Pentagon claims that during 1999, a total of 19,228 schools refused access to military recruiters (Source).

US Representative David Vitter (R-LA) sponsored the new recruitment requirement. He stated such schools "demonstrated an anti-military attitude that I thought was offensive (Source)"

In the case that an LEA does not comply, the law requires a senior officer, a colonel or navy captain, to visit the LEA within 120 days. If the access problem is not resolved, the Department of Defense must notify the LEA within the state governor within 60 days. Any problems still unresolved after one year are reported to Congress if the Secretary of Defense determines that the LEA denies recruiting access to at least two of the armed forces (Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force). At that point, it is expected that public officials will work with the LEA to resolve the problem. Schools could lose funds they receive under the ESEA.

Apparently, when Bush expresses his concern that "too many of our neediest children are being left behind," he literally meant 'behind', as in left at home instead of joining the military.

I don’t particularly have a problem with making some kind of requirement for citizens of the United States to give a year or two in service back to our country after completing an undergraduate degree, whether it is in the Peace Corps, VISTA, AmeriCorps, Teach for America, or other similar programs. These programs would provide participants with a unique learning experience and a different perspective of the world that they can bring back to the US, while improving America’s image abroad. I think serving in the military could be an option but only if that is what the person chooses. However, enlisting students straight from high school is too young for someone to go off and fight in a war. After all, many of these students will just have become legally old enough to drive and still be below the legal drinking age. On top of that, students are still trying to figure out what to do with their lives.

Despite what students put down as their interests on the ASVAB, they are usually called anyway because high school students generally do not know what they want to do, and the military offers many incentives to college-bound enlistees (Source). There is a major difference in when you join the military. If you join during high school and change your mind, you can't drop out. If you join in college, you have the option to change your decision. Of course, as the military’s recruits decline in response to the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the military is devoting more time and effort to trying to enlist high school students. I believe you should have the option to quit at anytime as long as you are attending high school or college.

To US Representative David Vitter, I say, "Let me see you take the 'Noriega-challenge' and then come back and tell me you think it is a good idea to send our young men and women to go fight overseas straight out of high school." I think that our representatives would be a lot less inclined to rush to war if they had a personal connection to it.

Furthermore, I discovered the NCLB is in direct violation of itself. Since Bush has failed to provide the full funding needed to implement the NCLB Act, he is directly violating Section 9527(a):

GENERAL PROHIBITION- Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize an officer or employee of the Federal Government to mandate, direct, or control a State, local educational agency, or school's curriculum, program of instruction, or allocation of State or local resources, or mandate a State or any subdivision thereof to spend any funds or incur any costs not paid for under this Act (Source).

The following are the required authorized appropriations mandated by Section 1002(a) of the NCLB:

SEC. 1002 AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. (a) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY GRANTS- For the purpose of carrying out part A, there are authorized to be appropriated - (1) $13,500,000,000 for fiscal year 2002; (2) $16,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2003; (3) $18,500,000,000 for fiscal year 2004; (4) $20,500,000,000 for fiscal year 2005; (5) $22,750,000,000 for fiscal year 2006; and (6) $25,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2007.(Source)

In the two years since the President signed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, none of his budgets have come close to meeting the level of funding authorized in the Act. The FY 2004 budget submitted by President Bush fell $9 billion short of the amount authorized for 2004 and his FY 2003 budget fell $7.2 billion short of approved funding. [Office of Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, 6/9/03; Associated Press, 2/24/03](Source)

San Diego State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison published a report entitled "Does No Child Left Behind Place a Fiscal Burden on States? Evidence from Texas" that found the costs of implementing NCLB "costs substantially exceed the additional federal funding." (Source)

Since Congress passed No Child Left Behind in 2002, it has not received the full funding as authorized in the act. President Bush has further cut the funding for No Child Left Behind program by $496 million in his 2006 budget proposal (Source). Last year Texas did not receive $843 million for public schools as promised by Congress and the President, including $548 million for extra academic support for low-income students, $66 million for critical after-school programs, and $30 million to raise teacher quality (Source).

Clearly, the lack of funding will further increase the burden on already tight public school budgets to meet the NCLB's requirements.

Here’s an editorial cartoon from the January 28, 2005 edition of the Washington Post that illustrates the issue.

To find out more about Section 9528 visit: http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/hottopics/ht-10-09-02a.html
The US Education Department’s web page for NCLB is http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml