October 4, 2008

Washington: Don’t Take Back Funds for Tutoring Programs

Originally published in the CourierPostOnline.com on October 2nd, 2008

Washington shouldn’t make school districts return unspent funds; it should support efforts to better use the money.

With international surveys showing U.S. students lagging ever further behind their global peers, it is imperative for school officials to get more eligible children enrolled in federally backed tutoring programs.

Under the federal No Child Left Behind law, about 2 million pupils a year are eligible for free tutoring in math and language arts. Yet, 83 percent of eligible students don’t participate for a variety of reasons that must be addressed.

To make matters worse, federal officials are expected to force school districts to return unused tutoring funds, money used in many financially distressed districts to cover other school expenses.

It might make sense to insist that school districts spend tutoring money on helping students improve their academic skills. But it doesn’t move the nation toward the goal of shoring up students’ weak academic skills if administrators use the money on nonacademic expenses.

So, a program in Mullica Hill to provide an at-risk summer tutoring program for students is a good use of unspent No Child Left Behind tutoring money and ought to be allowed.

For more of this article click on Don’t Take Back Funds for Tutoring Programs

Filed under: NCLB

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