Virginia ponders a pullout from No Child Left Behind

 The General Assembly of Virginia is flirting with abandoning a landmark federal law that governs schools in the United States. The decision could make the state the first to set a deadline—summer 2009—for planning a pullout from the No Child Left Behind Act, which ties billions of dollars to federally mandated testing standards in public schools.

State politicians have balked at some of those standards in the past few years. Governor Timothy M. Kaine has signed bills asking the U.S. Department of Education to waive parts of the federal law. Most of those exemptions were granted, but the notable ones that have not been approved frustrate educators and annoy legislators.

This year, some politicians want to up the ante. Read about the proposal in The Virginian Pilot.