AP: Texas

04/23/2005

Associated Press

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has fined Texas $444,282 for exempting hundreds of thousands of special education students from federal testing rules.

For two years, the state has exceeded the federal cap on how many students with learning disabilities can be given an easier exam instead of the rigorous Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.

In a stern letter released Friday evening, Spellings said the Texas Education Agency has not shown why she should not withhold the money from the agency's 2004 federal grant.

"The TEA's proposed amendment was not consistent with the law and the regulations, and something the Education Department could not approve," Spellings wrote.

TEA officials could not be reached for comment on the fine.

Texas Education Commissioner Shirley Neeley has said progress by special education students cannot be accurately measured unless the tests they take are tailored to their abilities. But critics say the state is trying to inflate test scores by exempting students who otherwise might perform poorly on the TAKS.

Until recently, the landmark No Child Left Behind law limited the share of students that could take easier tests to 1 percent of a state's enrollment — meaning only those with the most severe disabilities were eligible. Additional exempted students were counted as automatic failures.

Under a state law signed in 1997 by then-Gov. George W. Bush, school districts were required to administer the alternate exam to most special education students.

Last year, about 9 percent of the state's 2.9 million students took alternate tests.

Earlier this month, Spellings announced a new initiative to give states more flexibility with the law, including allowing up to 3 percent of students to take alternate exams. But she 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.

On Monday, Neeley told Spellings that Texas would continue to defy the federal law until state law changes to include the requirements. It is unlikely such legislation will be passed during this year's legislative session. The Legislature is scheduled to convene next in 2007.

The Friday fine is the second and steepest fine levied against a state under No Child Left Behind. Minnesota was fined $113,000 by Spelling's predecessor, Rod Paige, for not testing an adequate number of students in 2003.

But it represents a fraction of Texas' $1.1 billion federal allocation, and a sliver of the state's $33 billion annual public education budget.

Scott Young, a policy adviser for the National Conference of State Legislatures, said the penalty was not severe enough to force Texas to change its guidelines.

"Texas got a slap on the hand for breaking a fundamental principle of No Child Left Behind. Now any other state that doesn't comply is going to expect a similar financial penalty," Young said in Saturday's edition of the Houston Chronicle.

Texas is not alone in challenging aspects of the No Child Left Behind law. On Tuesday, Utah's Legislature passed a resolution that declares federal education laws subordinate to state policy.

And earlier this week, the nation's largest teachers union and school districts in Texas and two other states sued the Bush administration, aiming to free schools from complying with any part of the law not paid for by the federal government.

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On the Net:

U.S. Education Department, http://www.ed.gov/

Texas Education Agency, http://tea.state.tx.us