Spellings says no to another 'blue' state

Connecticut joins California in Spellings on the 'bad states' list:

The U.S. Department of Education Tuesday turned down Connecticut's request to be exempted from an expansion of school testing required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

State officials had asked for a waiver from a requirement that all students in grades 3 through 8 be given annual tests in reading and mathematics, saying the extra tests would cost millions of dollars without any benefit.

The big deal is over $40 million, the amount the state would have to cough up in order to comply with NCLB over the school testing expansion.