The South Whidbey School District board of directors is one of over 154 school boards across Washington State who are asking congress to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also known as the No Child Left Behind Act.

The resolution is also supported by five Educational Service Districts in the state, according to a news release from the Washington State School Directors Association.

In an email to The Record, South Whidbey School District superintendent Jo Moccia said the resolution urges the government to act promptly to revise the law as it has not been revised since 2001.

The original Elementary and Secondary Education Act was created and adopted in 1965. It had been revised every five years since then, including in 2001 when the current version of the act, known as the No Child Left Behind Act, was passed. It has not been revised since.

“The accountability provisions alone are reason to change the law,” Moccia wrote.

The majority of the state’s educational professionals, including members of the Washington State School Directors Association, have asserted that the “accountability provisions” in the No Child Left Behind Act inaccurately reflect the academic progress of students, resulting in an incorrect label of “failing” public school districts which are then subject to “punitive sanctions that are costly and ineffective.”