The Lake Washington School District will have to set aside $326,573 in federal funds next year and lose control of how it is used in the district following the loss of a waiver to the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act.

The loss came as the last Legislature couldn’t agree on using student test scores as a criteria to measure teacher and principal evaluations. Such scores are a requirement in the NCLB act.

The state has been operating under a conditional waiver for the past two school years.

While the district won’t lose the money, it will not have control over how it is used. The money must now be put towards private tutoring or transportation to a better performing school, so that students are still able to meet academic standards.

However, Shannon Parthemer, Lake Washington School District Community Relations and Communications Coordinator, said the funds that will be set aside by the district are for Title I schools only, and there are no Title 1 schools in Sammamish.

“There will be no financial impacts for schools in Sammamish,” she said.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn said he’s disappointed, but not surprised by the federal action.

“There is widespread acknowledgment that NCLB isn’t working,” he said. “Congress has failed to change the law at the federal level, so states are forced to come up with workarounds.”

One of those would be to have included student test scores as one of many elements used to evaluate teachers and principals.

Dorn said that in these past two years, Washington state has been doing great work under the waiver agreement.

“We have developed our own system that more accurately reflects the progress being made by schools across the state,” he said.

Kelly Montgomery:425-391-0363; kmontgomery@issaquahreporter.com