State schools chief Tom Torlakson has asked for a reprieve from the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Torlakson sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan this week asking that California be granted a waiver from the law's mandates, state officials said Thursday.

"Relief is needed immediately before more schools suffer for another school year under inappropriate labels and ineffective intervention," Torlakson said in the letter.

Schools that don't meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind – which include graduation rates, attendance and participation in testing, as well as the proficiency of minority groups, students with disabilities and English language learners – can be placed in "program improvement." These schools may face sanctions that can, in extreme cases, include being taken over by the state.

In addition, the bar goes up each year. That is, the federal goals require that an increasing percentage of students be proficient on the tests. By 2014, all students are supposed to be proficient.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Education announced recently that states will be offered relief from the statute if they can demonstrate they are invoking reform that includes adopting college- and career-ready standards, collecting teacher data that incorporate student test scores, and a new accountability system.

Torlakson acknowledged that these conditions "present problems for California" and says the state is "working hard to develop" an accountability system. The waiver requirements don't come with any federal funding, making them difficult to implement, he wrote.

Torlakson also contended that the waiver's requirements are beyond the scope of No Child Left Behind. He said new federal mandates should be considered during the process of reauthorizing the law, which dates to 2002 and is up for renewal.

In the meantime, the Legislature is still debating the best way to measure accountability and recently lost federal funding for a system that would track teacher data.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and officials at the California Department of Education want to use an accountability system called the Education Quality Index. Steinberg's Senate Bill 547 would create an index using graduation and promotion rates, test scores, college preparedness and career readiness.

In August, federal officials stripped the state of the entire three-year grant for the California Longitudinal Teacher Integrated Data Education System, or CALTIDES, after Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the use of $2.1 million in federal funding for it in this year's budget. The governor's veto message said the system wasn't critical.

Torlakson said 4,600 schools – 80 percent of the California schools that receive federal Title 1 funds – will be in program improvement status for the 2011-12 school year.

Duncan acknowledged in a town hall meeting via Twitter this week that the waivers are an "imperfect solution" and said he hopes Congress will reauthorize No Child Left Behind soon.

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

Call The Bee's Diana Lambert, (916) 321-1090. Follow her on Twitter @dianalambert.

• Read more articles by Diana Lambert