Washington ( CNN ) -- Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Wednesday his department estimates that four out of five schools in the United States will not make their `` No Child Left Behind '' benchmarks by the law 's target year of 2014 -- and when the test scores are counted for the current school year , numbers could show that U.S. schools are already at that failure rate . He blamed that failure rate on the law itself , not on schools . `` This law has created dozens of ways for schools to fail and very few ways to help them succeed . We should get out of the business of labeling schools as failures and create a new law that is fair and flexible , and focused on the schools and students most at risk , '' Duncan told the House Committee on Education and the Workforce . Under the No Child Left Behind law , originally passed in 2001 , all students are expected to meet a level of `` proficiency '' by 2014 . Because standards under No Child Left Behind are higher from year to year as 2014 approaches , the percentage of schools that are not meeting `` Adequate Yearly Progress '' could rise from the current level of 37 % to 82 % , Duncan said . Duncan pointed out that federal law requires states and districts to `` implement the same set of interventions in every school that is not meeting AYP , regardless of the individual needs and circumstances of those schools . '' Under the Education Department 's estimates , 82 % of America 's schools `` could be labeled 'failing ' and , over time , the required remedies for all of them are the same -- which means we will really fail to serve the students in greatest need , '' said Duncan . `` By mandating and prescribing one-size-fits-all solutions , No Child Left Behind took away the ability of local and state educators to tailor solutions to the unique needs of their students , '' Duncan said calling the concept `` fundamentally flawed . '' Duncan was on Capitol Hill to both push for the reauthorization and revamping of the No Child Left Behind law , and to defend President Barack Obama 's budget request for 2012 . The 2012 budget request comes to $ 77.4 billion -- an increase of $ 4.5 billion over the 2011 request . Republicans on the committee questioned any increase in the budget in the current economic climate . Committee chairman Rep. John Kline , R-Minnesota , said in his opening remarks , `` As we work to answer the question about the appropriate role for the federal government in education , one thing is for sure : it must be less costly and less intrusive . '' Rep. Duncan Hunter , R-California , asked the secretary if he though he could be successful without an increase in funding saying , `` If you cut the right way and put the money into the systems that you know work , could you do that ? '' The education secretary answered , `` We have to do that , anyway , and I continue to think we under-invest '' compared to higher-performing countries .
Education Secretary Arne Duncan testifies before a congressional committee . Almost 40 % of U.S. schools are not now meeting goals for `` No Child Left Behind , '' he says . The Obama administration has been pushing to expand the law since it was signed in 2002. Because standards are increasingly higher , U.S. schools could already be at that level .