When more than 50 House and Senate GOP members band together to introduce legislation that could drastically undermine what President Bush has long considered a success, you know something must be wrong.

And indeed, something has been wrong in the nation's classrooms since the No Child Left Behind Act became law five years ago.

The mandate has left schools struggling to meet its rigid requirements for two main reasons: severe underfunding and a one-size-fits all approach to learning.

The law requires schools to test students in math and English. The scores are then used to monitor the school's adequate yearly progress (AYP). Failure to show improvement leads to a possible cut in already too-low funding.

Sixty-six percent of public schools in Hawai'i failed to meet the AYP requirements under No Child Left Behind last year; one-fourth of the nation public schools failed to meet the benchmark.

A law that translates into such make-or-break results fails to acknowledge a child's individual progress. The goal for teachers, then, becomes simply to prepare students for testing rather than provide them with a well-rounded education. Crucial areas such as arts and physical education fall to the wayside.

Finally, GOP lawmakers — including House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and John Cornyn, R-Texas — are calling for change. Yesterday they introduced legislation that would allow states to opt out of testing mandates while still remaining eligible for federal funding.

In some areas, No Child has been referred to as a success. Rigid mandates have proven useful tools for some school systems. Others argue that education must be given more leeway to achieve success.

Let's at least give states the option to choose.