Federalism and Implementation 213
in improving environmental quality. Unfortunately, the implementation of
NEPPS fell short of expectations. EPA officials often were reluctant to modify
existing practices. The states, in turn, proved to be less open to innovation than
had been hoped. “They tended to balk at any possibility that the federal government would establish—and publicizefiserious performance measures that would
evaluate their effectiveness and determine their ability to deviate from federal
eontrols.
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965
was part of the Johnson administration's War on Poverty. Its
Title I provided federal financial aid to the states to support better education
for disadvantaged children in poor urban and rural arcas. It provides a good
example of federalism and policy administration.
The social-reform advocates among its supporters thought that this policy
was intended to reduce poverty by improving the educational facilities and
opportunities that state and local governments made available to the educationally disadvantaged children of low-income families. As initially administered by the Office of Education (now the Department of Education), however,
it was unclear to what extent the funds were actually expended on poor children, and whether they bought services beyond the level of those provided for
other children in the districts aided. Many cases of the misuse of funds were
reported.
A number of factors contributed to this situation. Although the ESEA
clearly specified that disadvantaged children were its target population, its
legislative history provided "the semblance if not the reality of general aid."
This ambiguity, together with the reality that reformers supporting the legislation did not themselves get much involved in implementation, meant that
officials in the then~Office of Education were given leeway to interpret the
legislation in accord with accepted modes of operation.
The traditional task of the Office of Education had long been to provide
assistance and advice to state and local school agencies. It was not inclined
to regulate or police their activities and consequently acted with little vigor
to ensure that Title I funds were expended as intended. Further, as noted
earlier in the chapter, state and local agencies had historically dominated
public education, and they enjoyed strong political support for their hegemony. This meant that it would have been difficult for national officials,
even if they were so inclined, to impose directives that did not mesh with
local priorities.
By the end of the 19705, however, the administration of the ESEA's Title I
had changed markedly. New staff members in the Office of Education had
succeeded in securing much tighter supen/ision of spending under the program. Interest groups, such as the National Welfare Rights Organization and
the National Advisory Council for Education of Disadvantaged Children,
214 6 Policy Implementation
helped keep the program centered on the disadvantaged. Offices dealing with
compensatory education were established in most state departments of education, and they developed a stake in ensuring that funds were used for the
disadvantaged. These developments made the effort to target Title I funds on
the disadvantaged much more successful. Studies indicated that Title I funds
had strengthened the educational perfonnance of the students affected.
This change in the way the Title I program was administered aligned it
more closely with the intention of its original supporters. It was retained as a
separate program in 1981 when many other education programs were combined into an education block grant by the Education Consolidation and
Improvement Act, a Reagan administration initiative.
During the Clinton administration, funding for the Title I program continued to expand. However, efforts to direct more money to districts with large
numbers of low-income pupils, and to increase accountability for the use of
federal funds, did not succeed.
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, a complicated and lengthy statute
that reauthorized for six years the Elementary and Secondary Education Act,
is a major expansion of federal involvement and control in public education.
Promoted by the George W. Bush administration, it was adopted by strong
bipartisan congressional majorities.” It was the administration's signature
domestic policy achievement other than tax cuts.
The No Child Left Behind Act requires the states, as a condition for
receiving federal education funding, to test students annually in grades three
through eight, and in one year of high school, on reading and mathematics.
Science tests are required for one grade each in elementary, middle, and high
schools. This testing is intended to ensure that by 2014 all students reach a
level of "academic proficiency" set by their state. The states are responsible
for designing and administering their tests under the supervision of the U.S.
Department of Education.
Schools that do not make "adequate yearly progress” toward meeting the
proficiency goal for two consecutive years are deemed “in need of improvement." They must take such prescribed actions as permitting students to
transfer to other public schools or providing supplemental services such as
tutofing. Ultimately, a school failing to make adequate progress could be
“rcconstituted"—that is, turned over to state control or converted into a charter school.
The basic goal of NCLBA is to pressure the states and their more
than 95,000 public schools to improve the quality of public education by
increasing their “accountability” for the use of federal funds by requiring an
extensive testing program. It builds on an effort initiated by the 1994 reanthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which was only
partially successful, during the Clinton administration.