Superintendent of Helena Public Schools Bruce Messinger traveled Thursday to Washington, D.C., and met with Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings to describe struggles educators here face with the No Child Left Behind Act.

The message was clear, Messinger said.

"There are aspects of the legislation that are difficult to implement," he said. "We get the high expectations and we get what they are trying to accomplish, but if we are to get there we need high support, and that isn't happening. High resources are not accompanying the legislation."

Messinger was accompanied by superintendents and principals from Hamilton, Culbertson and Manhattan as well as Darrell Rud, executive director of School Administrators of Montana. They provided delegates with a written document about their concerns and suggested improvements to the 2001 law.

Debate has heated up on the controversial law because Congress must decide whether to reauthorize it this year.

Many Montana educators have criticized NCLB for setting across-the-board standards for students and teachers without regard to local needs or funding. NCLB also requires adequate yearly progress testing, which many people consider an unrealistic way to measure students' progress.

Montana's senior U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, a Democrat, also has reservations about NCLB.

"When I talk with educators from Hamilton, Hardin, or Havre, it's clear that No Child Left Behind is leaving many children behind," Baucus said in a prepared statement. "NCLB needs to be fixed to be more flexible, because urban schools that are bigger than many of our towns have different needs than our schools.

"Education is important and we must provide sufficient resources to prepare our children to be successful tomorrow -- whether it's in Big Sky Country or the Big Apple."

Messinger said the visit included meaningful conversation pointing out such areas of concern as the fact that the required testing only focuses on a few areas. Tester initiated the meeting and said he was pleased with the face-to-face dialogue, describing it as effective and professional.

"Bringing in people who have hands-on experience delivering NCLB over the past five years would broaden Secretary Spellings' horizon as far as this issue," he said.

Educators told Spellings about the challenges of Montana's sparsely populated schools and minority students. They also discuss the difficulty in finding qualified educators in rural areas and updating the formula for Title 1 school funding. Tester said he would not support a reauthorization of NCLB as written. He said it takes away local control and turns teachers into bureaucrats.

"If they modify in a big way, I could probably support it, but the way it is doesn't work," he said.

Reporter Alana Listoe: 447-4081 or alana.listoe@helenair.com