The Department of Education's announcement of new leeway in meeting federal teacher-quality demands was praised as welcome relief by many education leaders. But others, including two pivotal congressional Democrats, charged that the action would lower expectations for teachers in rural communities. Facing widespread complaints about the workability of central requirements in the No Child Left Behind Act, the Bush administration unveiled its latest attempt at providing flexibility in the law on March 15, 2004. This time, department leaders focused on the law's mandate for ensuring that all public schools have "highly qualified" teachers in the core subjects by the end of the 2005-06 school year. The latest announcements focus on three areas: (1) Teachers in rural school districts who are highly qualified in at least one subject will have three years to satisfy that criterion in the additional subjects they teach; (2) States may allow science teachers in any school to demonstrate that they are highly qualified either in the "broad field" of science or in individual fields, such as biology or chemistry; and (3) States will be able to streamline the law's alternative method for current teachers of multiple subjects to meet the "highly qualified" mandate. In general, to be deemed "highly qualified" under the No Child Left Behind Act, teachers must have a bachelor's degree, full state certification or licensure, and prove that they know the subjects they teach. States already have wide latitude in setting the criteria for their teachers.