RAPID CITY, S.D. - South Dakota's senior U-S senator met with area educators to discuss No Child Left Behind.
Sen. Tim Johnson says the state of South Dakota is attempting to change aspects of the federal education law, as Congress considers comprehensive reforms to it.
Johnson spoke with educators about the state's plans to submit a No Child Left Behind flexibility waiver. Ten states have received waivers so far, and the next round of applications is due at the end of this month.
The senator says a lot has changed since the education act was put together 10 years ago. And he says the law's one-size-fits-all approach doesn't work well with schools in South Dakota.
Johnson says, "I'm interested to see what the educators and the parents and teachers themselves think of No Child Left Behind. The concesus is it's well designed for the goals, but there is trouble in the fine print."
Johnson says educators told him the law needs to be more flexible and instead of penalizing schools for falling behind, they should be working to build them up.
