BILL NUMBER: AJR 23	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER  125
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  SEPTEMBER 12, 2007
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  SEPTEMBER 12, 2007
	ADOPTED IN SENATE  SEPTEMBER 4, 2007
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 5, 2007
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JULY 18, 2007
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 20, 2007

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Hancock
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Benoit, De La Torre, DeSaulnier, Eng,
Huffman, Karnette, Laird, Leno, Ma, Mullin, Parra, Price, Solorio,
and Wolk)
   (Coauthors: Senators Migden, Negrete McLeod, Steinberg, Torlakson,
and Wiggins)

                        MAY 17, 2007

   Relative to education.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AJR 23, Hancock. No Child Left Behind Act of 2001:
reauthorization.
   This measure would urge the Congress of the United States to amend
the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 to provide states more
flexibility in the implementation of the law and in the
identification of schools in need of improvement in order to
strategically target resources and interventions toward those schools
and school districts that are most in need, to permit adequate
yearly progress to accommodate a range of accountability models, and
to respect parental choice. This measure also would urge the
President and the Congress of the United States to fully fund the
requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 for the life of
the act.



   WHEREAS, The general intent and spirit of the federal No Child
Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.), known as the
NCLB, are commendable; and
   WHEREAS, The NCLB is due to be reauthorized by Congress in 2007;
and
   WHEREAS, There is growing, bipartisan recognition among state
legislatures and in Congress that states need more flexibility and
financial support in implementing the NCLB; and
   WHEREAS, Before the enactment of the NCLB, California established,
implemented, and sustained an accountability system that holds
pupils and schools to some of the highest standards in the entire
country; and
   WHEREAS, Many provisions of the NCLB conflict with California's
own accountability system and fail to recognize schools that are
making substantial improvement; and
   WHEREAS, More than four years of operational experience in
implementing the NCLB has resulted in unintended consequences,
including the identification of some of the highest performing
schools and school districts in California as being "in need of
improvement"; and
   WHEREAS, Many of the unintended consequences result from the rigid
application of a "one size fits all" approach to accountability;
now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature and the State of California
urge the Congress of the United States to amend the federal No Child
Left Behind Act of 2001 to provide states more flexibility in the
implementation of the law and in the identification of schools in
need of improvement in order to strategically target resources and
interventions toward those schools and school districts that are most
in need; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of California urges
the Congress of the United States to amend the federal No Child Left
Behind Act of 2001 to permit adequate yearly progress to accommodate
a range of accountability models, including a growth model of
district, school, and subgroup improvement, and to respect parental
choice by giving states the flexibility to exclude from the
participation rate calculation, a pupil whose parent chooses not to
have the pupil tested; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of California urges
the President of the United States and the Congress of the United
States to fully fund the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act
of 2001 for the life of the act; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President of the United States, to the United
States Secretary of Education, and to each Senator and Representative
from California in the Congress of the United States.