Most schools will be labeled failures under federal ed law

Education Secretary Arne Duncan warned yesterday that 80,000 of the nation's 100,000 public schools will be labeled failures under President George W. Bush's "No Child Left Behind" law, which President Obama wants Congress to significantly alter this year.

Education experts told the New York Times they thought Duncan's estimate was overstated--essentially a tactic to scare Congress into action on reforming the spending bill. But according to EdWeek, lawmakers on the House Education and the Workforce Committee seemed uninterested in the data, instead asking Duncan to justify the existence of a federal Department of Education.

"A lot of people are wondering why we even have a DOE. Everything I'm looking at shows tremendous spending and then a flat line" on student achievement, said Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa, according to EdWeek. "Where is the return on the investment?"

Duncan said the United States "underinvests" in most poor children compared to developed nations.

While most people seem to agree the law isn't working, it's unclear if Obama and Duncan will be able to wrangle Democrats and Republicans into a compromise to reauthorize and change it. The law requires 100 percent math and reading testing proficiency by 2014. Last year, 37 percent of schools were labeled as failing. Continually failing schools face a series of sanctions, but the law grants schools leeway to meet testing targets.

(Duncan: AP)