Clashing Rules Block School Aid, GAO Finds

Conflicting requirements are preventing some of the nation's struggling schools from getting the financial help envisioned by the No Child Left Behind Act to boost achievement, according to a report released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office.

The law calls for states to devote 4 percent of the largest pot of federal education funding -- money dedicated to help low-income students -- to efforts to turn around high-poverty, low-performing schools. But another overriding rule prevents states from using the full amount in schools with the most serious problems if that means cutting funding from other school systems.

Education advocacy groups said the report shows that although No Child Left Behind has helped identify struggling schools, the schools and districts don't have the tools they need to transform those classrooms.

"We are just not serious yet about improving low-performing schools," said Dianne M. Pich¿, executive director of the Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights. "Congress has tolerated a major loophole in the funding process that basically permits business as usual. It permits less-poor areas to continue to get resources while denying resources to the poorest communities."

The report found that 22 states have not been able to use the dollars called for under the No Child Left Behind law in the neediest schools because of the "hold-harmless" provision. That money still goes to schools with a large percentage of low-income children.

The provision "may be preventing some of the neediest schools that face the most challenges to improving the academic achievement of their students from obtaining these funds," according to the report. It noted that many states use other federal funds or state money to help those schools.