Minnesota will seek a waiver to the federal No Child Left Behind law, Gov. Mark Dayton announced Monday, which would free state schools from some testing requirements and sanctions in the often criticized law.

The announcement came hours after the Obama administration presented its plans to give school districts a break from the law, as long as they pursue education changes backed by the administration.

Dayton, a Democrat, said the waiver would “provide school boards, administrators, teachers, and parents with the flexibility they need to implement the reforms the Legislature and I enacted in the recent session.”

Some local education officials weren’t expecting Minnesota to apply so soon.

Austin Educational Services Director John Alberts said during the Austin Public School board meeting Monday night he didn’t think Minnesota was eligible to apply. Since Minnesota was missing several requirements, including a growth system already in place, Alberts thought the waiver system couldn’t apply to Minnesota.

Though federal officials responded with a waiver system after several states threatened to refuse NCLB funding, Alberts said the move is a step in the right direction.

“The idea of flexibility is a good one,” he said.

Rep. Jeanne Poppe, DFL-Austin, thought the governor’s move to pursue an NCLB waiver was good as long as it would help students.

“If we can do things better for our students and help see higher marks in the end, we’d want to continue to pursue that,” Poppe said.

Poppe, who works at Riverland Community College when the state Legislature is not in session, believed the waiver system was a good alternative to NCLB, which many educators say doesn’t address student learning as much as it puts pressure on a test that doesn’t effectively track student progress.

“Trying to put all the same size pegs in one hole doesn’t necessarily work,” Poppe said. “It doesn’t necessarily lead to a better outcome.”

Minnesota Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius said she expected the waiver would most benefit districts now forced to pay for sanctions under the NCLB law by freeing up money to spend on new reforms.

“When you take those dollars away from schools that you are trying to provide some innovation around and support, I think that those dollars can be used to focus our reforms back into those schools,” she said

—The Associated Press contributed to this report.