Education law likely to undergo big change

WASHINGTON — President Bush's signature No Child Left Behind education law is headed for fundamental changes as Congress rewrites it this year, including a likely softening of do-or-die deadlines.

Lawmakers say a major flaw is that schools that miss achievement targets by a little are treated the same way as schools that miss those goals by a lot. Schools then are labeled as needing improvement and face the same penalties.

"We can't have one-size-fits-all," Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., said Thursday. He led a group of House and Senate lawmakers in introducing legislation that would let states opt out of No Child Left Behind requirements without losing federal education money.

Currently, any state that does not adhere to the requirements of the $23 billion program cannot get the federal dollars that come with it. The requirements include annual testing in math and reading in grades three through eight, and once in high school. The tests must show steady yearly progress toward a goal of getting students working at grade level by —.

House votes to limit no-bid contracts

The House voted to limit no-bid federal contracts Thursday, alleging abuses and citing huge losses in contracts for Katrina recovery and Iraq reconstruction.

The Accountability in Contracting Act was the last of five open-government bills the House passed this week under new Democratic leaders critical of what they say has been the closed and secretive nature of the Bush administration.

The bill, which goes to the Senate, passed 347-73, with all in the Washington delegation voting yes.

The White House opposed the contracting bill.

Much of the criticism of no-bid contracts has been directed at Halliburton, a giant oil-services company once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney that was given noncompetitive work to restore Iraq's oil production.

Tight budget delays shuttle's successors

The federal budget squeeze has forced NASA to abandon hope of launching a successor to its three aging space shuttles by —, the target President Bush set in his "Vision for Space Exploration" plan three years ago.

Instead, the United States will have to rely on Russia or commercial aerospace companies to ferry cargo and crews to the international space station for five years after the last shuttle is retired in 2010.

The shuttles' replacements — the new Orion spaceship and Ares I rocket launcher — won't be ready until 2015 at the earliest, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin told the House Science and Technology committee Thursday.

"America may have a prolonged gap between the end of the shuttle program and the beginning of Orion and Ares I operational capability," he said.

"If the new spacecraft are delayed even further," Griffin said, "the nation will cede leadership in human spaceflight at a time when Russia and China have such capabilities, and India is developing them."

Panel moves to halt Walter Reed closing

The House Appropriations Committee unanimously approved a measure Thursday that bars the closure of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, an action supporters say will reverse plans to shut the hospital in 2011.

The provision blocks the use of any federal funding to close Walter Reed.

Removing a base that has been chosen for closure by the Department of Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission would be unprecedented. But recent disclosures of problems with long-term care of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed have sparked calls in Congress and elsewhere to reverse the decision. Senior Army officials also suggested the decision be revisited.

"This is a done deal," Rep. James Moran, D-Va., a committee member, said after the hearing. "Walter Reed will stay open."

Also

University of Massachusetts trustees unanimously approved U.S. Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., to become chancellor of the system's Lowell campus on Wednesday. He expects to leave Congress in July to take the post leading his alma mater. His departure sets up a furious race for a rare open seat in the House.

Seattle Times news services