« Tools and strategies to get past the barriers of change | Main | Welcome back »
April 27, 2005
Another NCLB lawsuitA lot has happened in the NCLB world while BoardBuzz has been on the road. The National Education Association (NEA), joined by a group of school districts and a group of state NEA affiliates, finally filed its long-threatened legal challenge to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Legal details and links to documents and background here.
The suit focuses on the funding, not NCLB's provisions. The plaintiffs are invoking the section of NCLB itself that says no state and school district shall be required to pay for complying with the act out of its own funds. They add the new twist that the feds, by imposing unfunded mandates, also are violating the Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Council of School Attorneys (COSA) member Ron Wenkart of California's Orange County Department of Education had explored this line of argument in a law review article back in 2003. The idea here is that federal spending legislation is like a contract, so states need to know what the real deal is before they sign on.
Much of the group's legal complaint documents how the federal funding actually appropriated is nowhere near what will be required to comply with NCLB. They invoke many of the cost studies that states and other organizations have done on this issue. Now, as we've noted, there are various methods for calculate these things, all with pros and cons. But, as with cost studies used in connection with state finance adequacy litigation, the point is that they all tend to point in the same direction. Under-funding NCLB breaks our promises to children and amounts to a Federal Education Tax.
The suit's been filed in federal district court in Michigan. According to the COSA grapevine, Judge Bernard Friedman will hear the case. COSA member Lisa Swem of the Thrun Law Firm in Lansing reports, "Friedman is a politically conservative Reagan appointee, who has been described as 'very bright' and 'intellectually honest.'"
Reactions to the suit, of course, are mixed. Some voices are sounding the usual "Quit-your-whining-at-least-we-increased-funding-some" theme, some are saying "It's about time," and others worry that, although the money may be pitifully inadequate for the task, the end result of calling the funding question may be a lowering of expectations and accountability for serving disadvantaged children. And, aside from the merits of the arguments, some question whether the lawsuit is a good idea or will work.
NSBA's proposed No Child Left Behind Improvement Act takes different approaches to addressing the NCLB problems that various litigants have raised in court. Folks on the Hill reportedly are expressing interest and sympathy, but politics is politics: Unless they hear from enough people in their own districts that they need to get moving, they'll sit back and let events continue to run their course. Secretary Spellings has announced one welcome move toward some flexibility that the department will make through regulations, so we'll have to watch if others may be forthcoming.
Meanwhile, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal indicates he's getting ready to file that state's own suit.
Posted April 27, 2005 12:00 AM
BoardBuzz Feed
