Washington, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., said U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige announced today three new policies that would provide greater flexibility to teachers in less populated rural school districts.

Enzi, the founder and co-chair of the Rural Education Caucus, said the changes demonstrate the continued flexibility by the U.S. Department of Education in implementing the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

"Many teachers in Wyoming schools teach multiple subjects. The department's new guidance recognizes the challenges faced by teachers in rural school districts," said Enzi, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. "This change allows teachers more time to become highly qualified in each subject they teach, which ultimately improves the quality of our children's education. I'm pleased the Department of Education is taking note of the rural education issues I've raised with them. They've heard from Wyoming and elsewhere during meetings like the ones we held last year in Cheyenne and Riverton, and the one that is planned this week in Gillette, and they're working to address our concerns."

Originally, the Department of Education required teachers to be considered highly qualified in every subject they teach by the end of the 2005-06 school year. The revisions released today would give states more leeway for teachers responsible for multiple subjects, including more time to meet the law's requirements.

The change allows states the flexibility to use their own certification standards to determine subject-matter competency for science teachers. It also streamlines the current standard of evaluation for teachers of middle school students and those with special needs to allow them to demonstrate subject-matter knowledge through one procedure for all subjects taught, rather than for each subject independently.

Enzi and the Wyoming Department of Education have worked to bring experts from the U.S. Department of Education to Wyoming to explain what NCLB means for the state's educators and students, and to bring rural education issues to the Department's attention.

Enzi plans to host another NCLB event at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 17 in the Presentation Hall at the Gillette Campus of Sheridan College in Gillette.

Enzi has also urged the Department of Education to monitor other issues regarding greater flexibility in NCLB. In a letter to Paige last month, Enzi encouraged the Department to look after how the "one percent rule" is implemented. The rule affects how adequate yearly progress is determined for students with disabilities.

For more information on the new flexibility provisions, please visit (www.ed.gov).