By John Boehner
Guest columnist

Upon reading the May 3 news story "Fewer educators want to be superintendents," I was stunned by an erroneous point that was repeated several times in the article.

The article's characterization as fact that the No Child Left Behind federal education reform law is an "unfunded mandate" is incorrect. While this is unfortunately the opinion of some around the country, it is an opinion that has been flatly refuted time and time again.

Take, for example, a recent study conducted by the president of the Massachusetts Board of Education on behalf of the professional journal Education Next, which plainly affirms, "Claims that the No Child Left Behind Act represents an 'unfunded mandate' wilt under close scrutiny."

Or take the testimony of Ted Rebarber, president of the nonprofit education research organization AccountabilityWorks, at a recent field hearing conducted in Columbus by the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Rebarber said: "In developing our own analysis of the cost and revenues associated with No Child Left Behind, we found that recent funding increases, as well as likely future increases for the duration of the statute, were sufficient to pay for ambitious initiatives to comply with all the specific mandates."

Even a widely publicized report issued by two Columbus-based consultants has been roundly criticized for understating Ohio's huge federal education funding increases under No Child Left Behind.

In short, there's nothing "unfunded" about No Child Left Behind. Rather, because of this law, Title I education aid to school districts most in need of help increased more in the two years since we enacted No Child Left Behind than it did in the previous eight years combined.

According to U.S. Department of Education figures, Ohio is receiving $1.034 billion from the federal government this year to meet No Child Left Behind's goals, including nearly $400 million in Title I aid. By 2013, that figure is estimated to top $4 billion.

Closer to home, Cincinnati Public Schools are receiving more than $26 million in Title I money this year, far more than the $19 million it received before No Child Left Behind. According to the Education Department estimates, even the Princeton School District - one of those highlighted in the news story - is receiving more than a million dollars in annual federal education funds, a huge increase over the $656,000 it received in the year before No Child Left Behind became law.

No Child Left Behind aims to meet the same goals as do school superintendents in the Tristate and across the country: to raise the level of achievement by every student, regardless of race, income or what neighborhood they call home. And it provides an historic amount of federal dollars to do just that. To call it an "unfunded mandate" doesn't just distort the facts. It ignores them altogether.

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Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, a resident of West Chester Township, represents much of Southwestern Ohio in Congress.