Ruling in No Child Left Behind Act

Ruling in No Child Left Behind Act
1/23/2008 1:55 PM

Ruling 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.

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