No Educator Left Behind is a series providing answers from the U.S. Department of Education to questions about the federal No Child Left Behind Act and how it will affect educators. If you have a question about No Child Left Behind, send an e-mail to Ellen Delisio, and we will submit your question to the Department of Education.

Question:

Does the No Child Left Behind Act put new constraints on how schools spend money?

U.S. Department of Education:

The No Child Left Behind Act actually provides state and local leaders with unprecedented flexibility in school spending.

The foundation of No Child Left Behind is a system of state standards and state assessments that ensure accountability. Each state sets its own standards and each state determines what assessments will be used to measure student achievement.

To provide as much flexibility as possible, No Child Left Behind allows states and local school districts to transfer up to 50 percent of the funding they receive for teacher quality, educational technology, innovative programs, and safe and drug-free schools, to any one of those programs or to Title I. No "permission" is required before transferring those funds. That ability to transfer federal funds among specific accounts is new under No Child Left Behind and

States and local school districts also have the opportunity to apply for demonstration projects, which provides even more flexibility in how federal resources are used.

Additionally, recent policies announced by the U.S. Department of Education provide states and local school districts with even more flexibility as they attempt to meet the academic needs of students with disabilities and English language learners.

More information on the flexibility provisions related to students with disabilities is available at "New No Child Left Behind Provision Gives Schools Increased Flexibility While Ensuring All Children Count, Including Those With Disabilities."

More information on the flexibility provisions related to English language learners is available at: "Secretary Paige Announces New Policies to Help English Language Learners."

The U.S. Department of Education publication "Charting the Course: States Decide Major Provisions Under No Child Left Behind," outlines in detail the amount of flexibility states have with regard to their accountability systems and the implementation of particular No Child Left Behind provisions.

Read previous questions and answers in our No Educator Left Behind archive.