School districts and the NEA seek to revive lawsuit challenging NCLB funding
School districts in three states and the nation's largest teachers union have asked a federal appeals court to revive a lawsuit challenging the way the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is funded. Chief U.S. District Judge Bernard A. Friedman in Detroit dismissed the lawsuit in November 2005, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has heard arguments in the appeal. Although the Pontiac, Michigan school district is the plaintiff named in the lawsuit, the National Education Association (NEA) is paying the costs of the appeal. Plaintiffs include nine school districts in Michigan, Texas, and Vermont, and NEA affiliates in those states and in Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Utah. A nationwide association of school administrators also supports the suit. The plaintiffs argue that schools should not have to comply with NCLB’s requirements that are not paid for by the federal government, and that the government is imposing unfunded mandates even though the act itself prohibits unfunded mandates. NEA general counsel Robert Chanin told the Sixth Circuit panel that states submitted compliance plans based on their understanding of the level of government support that would be provided, but Congress appropriated far less than needed, leaving local school districts to make up the difference.
Government attorney Alisa Klein argued that the intent of the law was never to fully fund the provisions laid out in the act. "A state's commitment to making academic progress under the standards set out in its plan is the cornerstone of the act," the government’s brief argued. "It cannot seriously be urged that a state could refuse to spend its own money to help its elementary and secondary schoolchildren become proficient in reading, science and math." Mr. Chanin responded that, "No one disputes that the primary responsibility to educate children rests with the states." Judge David McKeague’s asked why a school that did not like participating in NCLB could not simply walk away from it. "We don't want to opt out," Mr. Chanin replied. "This is a good program. We just want to participate on the terms Congress told us would apply."
Boston Globe
By Terry Kinney (Associated Press)
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[Editor’s Note: A summary of the district court’s decision and links to additional background information on the suit are available below. The second link is to a summary of the September 2006 decision in the NCLB challenge brought by the State of Connecticut.]
[NSBA School Law pages on School District of the City of Pontiac v. Spellings]
[NSBA School Law pages on Connecticut v. Spellings]