Lost amid the fish hysterics

...is the fact Minnesota is one of 9 states that could lose federal funding for education because it didn't make enough effort to comply with teacher standards.

According to an AP article, "The 4-year-old No Child Left Behind law says teachers must have a bachelor's degree, a state license and proven competency in every subject they teach by this year. The first federal order of its kind, it applies to teachers of math, history and many other core class."

Guess how many states have a qualified teacher in every core curriculum?

None.

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The Education Department on Friday ordered every state to

explain how it will have 100 percent of its core teachers qualified

- belatedly - in the 2006-07 school year.

In the meantime, some states face the loss of federal aid because they didn't make enough effort to comply on time, officials said.

They are Alaska, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina and Washington, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

"At some point there was, I suspect, a little bit of notion that 'This too shall pass,"' said Henry Johnson, the assistant secretary over elementary and secondary education. "Well, the day of reckoning is here, and it's not going to pass."

Department officials would not say how much aid could be withheld from states to force compliance. But Johnson said, "In some cases, we're talking about large amounts of money."

States often fell short because they did not report accurate or complete data about the quality of the teacher corps, said Rene Islas, who oversees the department's review.

The 4-year-old No Child Left Behind law says teachers must have a bachelor's degree, a state license and proven competency in every subject they teach by this year. The first federal order of its kind, it applies to teachers of math, history and any other core class.

In grading the states, the department found that 29 have made substantial progress. They must improve but do not face looming sanctions.

Of course, Minnesota has at various times played chicken with the feds over No Child Left Behind.

I'm guessing this is going to be a huge issue in the campaign since there are quite a few candidates who bristle under the notion of the "submit or die" nature of the law.

This'll be interesting. An actual, you know, issue.