The Oakland school district turned over names and phone numbers of almost 4,000 students to military recruiters this week, in a controversial move required to comply with federal law. A provision of President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind Act gives recruiters special access to names, phone numbers and addresses of high school juniors and seniors. Schools sent "opt-out" forms home with students in English, Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese. About 600 students returned the forms to prevent their information from going to recruiters, district officials said. Under the No Child Left Behind law, the Oakland schools stood to lose more than $25 million in federal funds if the district did not give out names to recruiters. The school board voted last year to comply with the law, but stressed that parents would be informed they could sign an "opt-out" form to keep their children's names and numbers private. The Pentagon says the law helps to find young people to defend the country. ------------- "We're going to have the best educated American people in the world." - George W. Bush, Jr.