http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/11/national/11UTAH.htmlIn a rebuke to the Bush administration, the Utah House voted yesterday to prohibit the state's education authorities from using any local money to comply with the president's signature education law, No Child Left Behind.
The vote, by a Republican-dominated chamber, comes after weeks of criticism by lawmakers arguing that the federal education measure impinges on the state's right to set its own education agenda and that the cost of compliance would be too high.
Utah's defiance is the most politically embarrassing challenge by any state so far to the wide-ranging federal law, which penalizes schools that fail to meet rising targets on standardized tests.
The White House and Department of Education had been so concerned about the Legislature's action that they sent a combined delegation of senior officials to Utah last week to discuss the legislators' concerns.
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Of course they did it for the wrong reasons. Our red neck legislature doesn't believe in spending money on education. But at least they are honest about it and don't follow Bush lock step.