No Child Left Behind will come up for reauthorization later this year. Much of the good in Senator Kennedy's bill was stripped out by the time it became law, and it's high time that Congress repairs that.

As it stands now, No Child Left Behind is a collection of unfunded mandates that require standardized testing in the schools. It's bad from a funding standpoint, as the increase in funding brought on by No Child Left Behind is not even always enough to cover the cost of the standardized testing that the law requires.

More importantly, it's bad from an educational standpoint, as it encourages teachers to simply teach what they know will be covered on the test rather than provide a comprehensive education for the students of the United States.

As the modifications to the bill take shape, I will be monitoring them closely to make sure that realistic mandates are set, and that sufficient money is set aside for funding those mandates.

Furthermore, I will make sure that this law and any other provides an adequate means for recruiting, training, and retaining high quality teachers. They are the lifeblood of this community, and I will make sure that all education legislation is written with that in mind.