State lawmakers are again trying to distance Maine from the controversial No Child Left Behind Act.

A new bill in front of the Education Committee would stop officials from using any state money to pay for federal school reforms mandated by the act. It would also require the Maine Department of Education to study the consequences of ignoring the law completely.

The bill is the latest in a series of attempts to free Maine from requirements that many call burdensome and costly.

Said Sen. Peggy Rotundo, a Lewiston Democrat who co-sponsored the proposal, “This bill is the next step. Some of us refuse to let this go.”

Signed by President Bush in January 2002, the 1,100-page No Child Left Behind Act requires schools to adhere to dozens of new mandates, such as yearly testing for elementary students.

If a school fails to meet requirements it must provide student tutoring, get new administrators or face other penalties.

As Maine struggles to deal with this year’s $109 million budget shortfall, many lawmakers say the state cannot afford the costly demands of No Child Left Behind. They say their new bill is the answer.

“This bill is another attempt to hold the federal government responsible,” Rotundo said.

She is among the bill’s nine co-sponsors, who also include Auburn Sen. Neria Douglass and Lewiston Reps. Margaret Craven and William Walcott.

The Education Committee will hold a public hearing on it next week.

Scott Young, policy associate for the National Conference of State Legislatures, said many states are looking at ways to get out of No Child Left Behind.

Vermont recently passed a law that prohibits officials from spending state money on it. Virginia passed a resolution to ask the federal government for a waiver. Utah lawmakers are considering a bill that would let the state opt out of the act completely.

Maine is at the head of a trend, Young said.

Last spring, Maine became the first state to demand that the federal government either pay more for No Child Left Behind or waive the law’s requirements. Federal officials refused.

After that, Legislators asked the Maine Department of Education to start tracking how much the state spends on the act.

Loss or gain?

Federal officials say states will lose federal funding if they don’t stick to No Child Left Behind. For Maine, that’s a potential loss of more than $90 million a year.

Backers of the bill, however, want to see if Maine spends more of its own money than it receives.

Ohio recently completed a cost study similar to the one proposed by Maine lawmakers. The analysis found that No Child Left Behind cost that state $1.5 billion a year.

Maine lawmakers would like to know how much it will cost here.

“We need those funds to move the state’s Learning Results forward. That’s what we were working on before this federal burden came into the state,” Rotundo said.

It is unclear how schools would be affected if lawmakers refused to spend state money on federal requirements. Some say it’s worth a try. “If nothing else, I hope it just brings attention to the issue,” Walcott said.

A public hearing on the bill will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Cross Building in Augusta.

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