Appeals Court Asked to Revive NCLB Legal Challenge

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

SCHOOLS IN THREE STATES ASK COURT TO REVIVE LEGAL CHALLENGE TO NCLB MANDATE
The Associated Press -- November 28, 2006
by Terry Kinney

Cincinnati - School districts in three states and the nation's largest 
teachers union asked a federal appeals court Tuesday to revive a lawsuit 
challenging the way a government education program is funded.

The 2.7 million-member National Education Association, its affiliates in 
10 states, and school districts in Michigan, Vermont and Texas had sued 
to block the No Child Left Behind law, President Bush's signature 
education policy.

They argued that schools should not have to comply with requirements 
that aren't paid for by the federal government, and that the government 
is imposing unfunded mandates even though the act prohibits unfunded 
mandates.

Chief U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman in Detroit dismissed the 
lawsuit in November 2005, saying the plaintiffs failed to support their 
claim.

NEA general counsel Robert Chanin, representing the Pontiac, Mich., 
school district and the other plaintiffs, told the 6th U.S. Circuit 
Court of Appeals panel Tuesday that states submitted compliance plans 
and requests for funding 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, he said.

Government attorney Alisa Klein argued that the intent of the law was 
never to fully fund the provisions laid out in the act, designed to make 
sure that children in poorer school districts have the same chance to 
become proficient in basic skills as students in wealthy districts.

"A state's commitment to making academic progress under the standards 
set out in its plan is the cornerstone of the act," the government said 
in its brief. "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."

The law requires states to revise academic standards and develop tests 
to measure students' progress annually. If students fail to make 
progress, the law requires states to take action against school districts.

Appeals Judge David Mc-Keague asked Chanin why a school that did not 
like participating in No Child Left Behind could not simply walk away 
from it.

"We don't want to opt out," Chanin said. "This is a good program. We 
just want to participate on the terms Congress told us would apply."

The NEA is paying the costs of the appeal.