Dick Durbin: “Currently, the DC Public School System, like many public school systems, is in transition under the No Child Left Behind…”

“Currently, the DC Public School System, like many public school systems, is in transition under the No Child Left Behind Act and the 2005 requirement that students be tested every year. Currently, their public school students are only tested every other year. By establishing as a standard for the next 5 years for the District of Columbia voucher program using the 2003-2004 assessments, the Senator is saying they will only be tested every other year, while students in public schools by the year 2005 have to be tested every year. If the Senator had said here that you will comply with the No Child Left Behind Act testing requirement, it would have been easy. But instead, you picked one particular year, and I don't think you reach the standard which you have described to our colleagues. Is that true or not?”