If Congress won't budge, Education Secretary Arne Duncan should use his executive authority to waive some of the requirements of the No Child Left Behind law.

Enacted in 2002 as one of George W. Bush's signature pieces of legislation, the well-intended education law set the right goals but is unworkable as written.

It needs an overhaul, a do-over, but Congress has stalled on drafting and approving a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, frustrating educators across the country. Now Education Secretary Duncan has sounded a warning of "a slow-moving educational train wreck for children, parents and teachers."

He's fed up waiting for congressional action and ready to ease some of the sanctions for "failing" districts under the law.

Ideally, that prospect should get lawmakers moving, but it's highly unlikely. These days, it seems that Congress cannot get much of anything accomplished. Fine-tuning the nation's education law should be a priority, not another battlefield.

The intent of the Bush-era legislation was to make the nation's schools better, including testing to identify "failing" schools and sanctions to force improvement at them.

But it hasn't worked and federal education officials anticipate that 82 percent of the nation's public schools could fail to meet proficiency goals this year. When they fail, there are repercussions, including loss of federal aid.

It's not that the schools are not making improvements, it's that cookie-cutter standards don't work for everyone. Districts and schools are asking for flexibility to meet the expected thresholds.

President Obama last winter urged lawmakers "to seize this education moment" and rewrite NCLB by the start of the new school year. Now it's July and they are nowhere close to doing that.

It's frustrating. Lawmakers don't want to relinquish their authority, but their inability to fix NCLB may leave Secretary Duncan with few other options.

The law's goals are unattainable as written. Educators have known that for years and pleaded for changes. If lawmakers won't act, Secretary Duncan should.