The Soft Bigotry of Low Expenditures

Abstract

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was put forward by President Bush to end what he called “the soft bigotry of low expectations.” The Act passed Congress with broad bipartisan support, with many legislators agreeing to NCLB's testing regimen in exchange for White House promises of specific budget increases, embodied in the form of spending authorizations for 2002 and beyond. However, actual White House budget requests and actual congressional appropriations have fallen short of these promised levels and have now generated litigation. This article identifies and examines different approaches for calculating necessary funding for NCLB. It then considers the implications of past and current appropriate levels.