Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said says he expects Connecticut will seek a waiver to the federal No Child Left Behind law.
Malloy’s remarks came less than an hour after President Barack Obama announced Friday that he would grant states flexibility to apply for a waiver to the Bush-era school reform act.
Malloy said he believes Connecticut’s standards are “more rigorous” than what is being applied by the federal government.
“As No Child Left Behind was drafted I think there were some mistakes made and this is one way to clarify that,” Malloy said.
Under Obama’s plan, states can apply for a waiver to a requirement that all children show they are proficient in reading and math by 2014.
But Obama made clear that he wasn’t lowering education standards by allowing for the waivers.
“Let me repeat: This does not mean that states will be able to lower their standards or escape accountability,” Obama said. “In fact, the way we’ve structured this, if states want more flexibility, they’re going to have to set higher standards, more honest standards, that prove they’re serious about meeting them.”
He said already 44 states have set higher standards.
When No Child Left Behind was first passed it received bipartisan support. However, over the years it divided lawmakers who found themselves competing against each other for money. And it left teachers grumbling about testing and parents upset about having schools labeled as a “failures.”