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February 6, 2008
Feds to ask court to reconsider its NCLB rulingNot unexpectedly, the U.S. Department of Education has decided to petition the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its decision allowing a lawsuit to go forward that challenges the federal failure to fund the act. In her statement announcing the decicion, Secretary Margaret Spellings says:
NCLB is not an unfunded mandate. It is a voluntary compact between the States and the Federal government, which asks that in exchange for Federal tax dollars, results be demonstrated.
A three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit ruled on January 7, that the lawsuit initiated by the National Education Association over unfunded mandates could go forward. Now the feds will ask the entire Sixth Circuit to rehear the case. The court could do so, or it could refuse. If it refuses, the feds could consider asking the Supreme Court to hear the case.
Meanwhile, Spellings has been warning school districts that the law still stands, so don't get any ideas about ignoring it. And this was the week, as The Politico reports, that 1,000 NSBA members descended on Capitol Hill to push their members of Congress to get on with reauthorizing the act. At the end of the day, the real significance of the lawsuit may have more to do with the politics of the needed fixing and funding than the legal question.
Posted February 6, 2008 3:49 PM | No Child Left Behind
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