No Child Left Behind under fire from all sides

No Child Left Behind, that massive, unworkable federal program that has been under fire from the start, is up for renewal this year and it appears more and more evident if it is renewed, it won't look much like it does now.
An article in today's New York Times examines the opposition to the law...and it is coming from both sides of the aisle:

Arizona and Virginia are battling the federal government over rules for testing children with limited English. Utah is fighting over whether rural teachers there pass muster under the law. And Connecticut is two years into a lawsuit arguing that No Child Left Behind has failed to provide states federal financing to meet its requirements.

Reacting to such disputes in state after state, dozens of Republicans in Congress are sponsoring legislation that would water down the law by allowing states to opt out of its testing requirements yet still receive federal money.

On the other side of the political spectrum, 10 Democratic senators signed a letter last month saying that based on feedback from constituents, they consider the law’s testing mandates to be “unsustainable” and want an overhaul.

"It’s going to be a brawl," said Jack Jennings, a Democrat who as president of the Center on Education Policy has studied how the law has been set up in the 50 states. "The law is drawing opposition from the right because they are opposed to federal interference and from the left because of too much testing."

Among those who have been critical of the plan on the GOP side is Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt, who says the bill usurps local control over education:

In contrast, a bill sponsored by Representative Peter Hoekstra, Republican of Michigan, and co-sponsored by 50 conservative Republicans in the House, including the minority whip, Roy Blunt of Missouri, would greatly weaken Washington’s control by allowing states to opt out of the law’s testing requirements without losing federal money. Two Republican senators, Jim DeMint of South Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas, have introduced companion legislation in the Senate.