Media Contact:
Dr. Hiller Spires, 919/515-6286
Anna Turnage, College of Education, 919/513-0034

March 28, 2005

Friday Institute Policy and Action Series Features Leandro, No Child Left Behind

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Robb Leandro, the namesake of a lawsuit filed against the State of North Carolina calling for more funding for low-income school districts, will join U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, N.C. Superior Court Judge Howard Manning Jr., Assistant Secretary of Education Raymond Simon, North Carolina school superintendents and other educational leaders to discuss the impact of the lawsuit and the No Child Left Behind legislation on the state’s public schools.

The two-day conference, “No Child Left Behind and Leandro: Mandate and Means,” will be held April 7-8 at the Raleigh Crabtree Marriott hotel. It is the first installment of the Policy and Action Series sponsored by the William and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, a research and outreach arm of North Carolina State University’s College of Education.

“Two of the most pivotal issues occupying the minds of education policy-makers in North Carolina are No Child Left Behind and the Leandro decision,” says Dr. Hiller Spires, director of the institute. “The institute provides a venue for educational leaders to exchange ideas and to make recommendations for improving these policies.”

In 1994, 10 families from five counties sued the state, claiming that children in poor counties do not receive the same educational opportunities as children in wealthier districts. The case took the name of Leandro, the lead plaintiff. Six urban school districts later joined the lawsuit. The case eventually led to a landmark 1997 N.C. Supreme Court decision defining public schools’ constitutional requirement to provide all students with a “sound basic education.” Judge Manning ruled in 2002 that the state is solely responsible for upholding this constitutional right. As a result, additional money is now available for 16 disadvantaged school systems.

The No Child Left Behind Act was signed into law on Jan. 8, 2002. It is designed to improve student achievement in elementary and secondary schools in the United States by emphasizing four principles: increased accountability; flexibility and local control for states, school districts and schools in using federal funds; more choices for parents of children from disadvantaged backgrounds; and utilizing teaching methods that have been demonstrated to be the most effective.

The two-day conference will not only provide up-to-the-minute analyses of these two public policy initiatives, but also time to learn from educational leaders around the state and to be proactive in contemplating school districts’ plans for addressing the NCLB and Leandro requirements. Attendees also will have the unique opportunity to generate recommendations for policy and programmatic changes that will be forwarded directly to national and state policy-makers and education leaders.

The focus of each Policy and Action Series will be to provide an insightful examination of a current policy issue with which superintendents are grappling, and an opportunity to plan preliminary action steps in collaboration with other participants. For more information go to http://www.ncsu.edu/friday/NCLB-Leandro/.

- turnage -