Today the LA Times and the WSJ both notice that there is no constituency for H.R. 1! – President Bush’s signature domestic achievement in his first term. Seems it’s Republicans who have been left behind when it comes to getting credit for the sweeping reform. The naive hope of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was to burnish GOP credentials on the education issue. Federal education spending increased by 50 percent, but Democratic NCLB supporters insist the reform is underfunded while Republicans remain uneasy about a heavy federal hand dictating school policies and are no match for recalcitrant local officials who persistently complain about it’s stringent/flexible mix of federal mandates. When the bill passed, there was support in the polls for some undefined “accountability,” but states that had enacted their own testing regimes were finding little support among teachers and parents beyond the abstract.

The fundamental problem with the administration’s top-down reform? If state officials have the resolve to insist on tough reforms, they don’t need pressure from Washington and if they lack the will to take on formidable bureaucracies federal demands will be subverted.

Although NCLB passed the House with more Democratic support than Republican, accountability for the unpopular accountability regime rests with Republicans.