Fast forward. Here we are in 2005 with the U-PASS program and a new federal education accountability program called No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Many have said that NCLB has good goals but goes about accomplishing them in the wrong way. In an effort to measure schools' progress toward reading and math goals and not "leave anyone behind," NCLB makes it harder to really educate Utah children.

So in 2004, the Utah Legislature considered legislation that would have opted Utah out of No Child Left Behind. The Bush Administration didn't like that. Officials came out to Utah and asked us to hold off on our action until after the election. After the election they said they would be happy to address Utah's concerns with NCLB. We held off. Nothing happened.

During the 2005 General Session, the Legislature considered a bill (HB 135) that would have given priority to the state's U-PASS program (the one modeled after Texas) over the federal NCLB. Again, the feds said "Wait, let's negotiate!" We agreed and shelved HB 135 to give room for negotiations—with the understanding that we'd take HB 135 back up during a special session depending upon what concessions Utah won from the feds.

The special session is going to be next week. I want the U-PASS preference bill on the call and I want to pass it. Not enough concessions have been made to Utah under NCLB. We need to keep pushing. We cannot rely on the federal government to move unless we help them along. Education is a state issue. When he was governor, I don't think that President Bush would have stood by and let the federal government run over his state accountability standards.

And hey, if U-PASS is good enough for Texas . . .