Michigan School Wins Against No Child Left Behind

[Horace B Lucido <hbl04@csufresno.edu>]

Michigan School Wins Against No Child Left Behind
Category: 
Posted on: January 10, 2008 9:16 AM, by Ed Brayton

A lawsuit brought by the city of Pontiac's public schools against the Federal government has found favor with the 6th circuit court of appeals. They challenged the law based on unfunded mandates, arguing that the federal law requires states and local school districts to comply with the law but does not provide the funding required to do so. The NCLB included a section called the Unfunded Mandates Provision, which said:

Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize an officer or employee of the Federal Government to mandate, direct, or control a State, local educational agency, or school's curriculum, program of instruction, or allocation of State or local resources, or mandate a State or any subdivision thereof to spend any funds or incur any costs not paid for under this Act.


Here's how the court posed and answered the legal question:

Plaintiffs filed suit in district court against the Secretary of Education seeking, among other relief, a judgment declaring that they need not comply with the Act's requirements where federal funds do not cover the increased costs of compliance. The district court concluded, however, that Plaintiffs must comply with the Act's requirements regardless of any federal-funding shortfall and accordingly granted the Secretary's motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Because statutes enacted under the Spending Clause of the United States Constitution must provide clear notice to the States of their liabilities should they decide to accept federal funding under those statutes, and because we conclude that NCLB fails to provide clear notice as to who bears the additional costs of compliance, we REVERSE the judgment of the district court and REMAND this case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.


The federal government will likely appeal to the Supreme Court.
http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2008/01/michigan_school_wins_against_n.php?utm_source=mostemailed&utm_medium=link


Here is a link to the ruling
http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/08a0006p-06.pdf


Rog ( Horace ) Lucido, Physics Instructor, Ret. 
Program Evaluator 
Adjunct Faculty, Fresno Pacific University 
Educational Consultant 
Educators and Parents Against Testing Abuse ( EPATA ) 
Assessment Reform Network Central Valley Coordinator 
Phone: 559-277-1312 
Cell: 559-355-4215 
email: lucid4@cvip.net