Will Obama's Timeline to Reform No Child Left Behind Get Schooled?

WASHINGTON, March 15, 2011— -- Reforming the Bush-era No Child Left Behind education law might be one of the few things that Republicans and Democrats can agree on, but with budget battles brewing on Capitol Hill, getting it done might not be so easy.

President Obama urged Congress earlier this week to send him a new education law by the time students head back to school this fall. Today Obama came out in defense of that deadline, arguing that, despite budget concerns, education is "an investment in our future."

"We think that the time is now to do it and there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to get it done by August," Obama said in an interview with ABC affiliate KOAT-TV in Albuquerque, N.M.

Although there is bipartisan support for reforming NCLB, education policy experts and lawmakers alike criticized the president's "arbitrary" timeline.

"We need to take the time to get this right -- we cannot allow an arbitrary timeline to undermine quality reforms that encourage innovation, flexibility, and parental involvement," House Committee on Education and the Workforce chairman Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., said Monday.

Mike Petrilli of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an educational policy think-tank, said the deadline, while perhaps unrealistic, helps shine a spotlight on the issue.

"I think that's useful. This is what president's do; they create a sense of urgency," he said. "But I don't think many insiders have much optimism that deadline will be met."

Beyond the timeline, the biggest challenge facing reform of NCLB is the budget battle brewing on Capitol Hill. In fiscal year 2010 the bill cost more than $12 billion, a number that may be hard for many to tolerate in a year when all federal spending seems to be on the table.

"The biggest obstacles are the House Republicans," Petrilli said. "They are the wild cards."

Half of the Republicans on Kline's key House committee, which will have a commanding influence over reforming the law, are freshmen members.

"The tea party folks were elected to reduce the size of the federal footprint," he said. "The next version of No Child Left Behind I think is going to be scaled back, but the question is whether it's being scaled back enough."