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1/23/2008 1:55 PMRuling in No Child Left Behind Act case major victory for students and parents
(Tuesday, January 15, 2008: University of Pittsburgh School of Law, Jurist Legal News and Research) -- Michael Simpson [Assistant General Counsel, National Education Association]: "In a major victory for students, parents, and public education, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held on January 7th that the Bush Administration’s interpretation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) violates the federal Constitution.The
court’s ruling came in an NEA-sponsored lawsuit filed in 2005 on behalf
of school districts from Michigan, Texas, and Vermont, NEA, and several
NEA affiliates challenging the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED)
demand that states and school districts expend their own funds in order
to comply with mandates of NCLB when there is a shortfall in federal
funding.
The lawsuit is based on the “unfunded mandates”
provision of NCLB (§ 9527(a)), which provides, in relevant part, that
“[n]othing in this Act shall be construed to … mandate a State or any
subdivision thereof to spend any funds or incur any costs not paid for
under this Act.” The plaintiffs argue that this provision means that ED
cannot require states and local school districts to comply with NCLB
requirements that are not funded by federal money. The Sixth Circuit
agreed, holding that ED’s contrary reading of NCLB “violate[s] the
Spending Clause” of the Constitution. NEA estimates that the law has
been underfunded by at least $70 billion since its enactment in 2001.
This is an excerpt from the JURIST. To read the complete article, click here to visit the JURIST Hotline Web site. Opinions expressed in JURIST's Hotline
are the sole responsibility of their authors and do not necessarily
reflect the views of JURIST's editors, staff, or the University of
Pittsburgh.
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