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Major court ruling on NCLB:
States, districts not required
to spend own funds to comply with law
Victory announced on the eve of
the controversial law's sixth anniversary
 WASHINGTON—On
the same day President George W. Bush held a press conference in Chicago
to defend the failing No Child Left Behind, and on the eve of NCLB’s sixth
anniversary, a federal appeals court delivered yet another major
blow to the controversial law. The United
States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled today that Secretary
Spellings is violating the Spending Clause of the Constitution by
requiring states and school districts to spend their own funds to comply
with the law.
“The court’s message couldn’t be more
clear: If the president is sincere about continuing No Child Left Behind,
he needs to put his money where his mouth is,” said NEA President Reg
Weaver. “The president refuses to budge on NCLB, his flagship domestic
policy, but unless he takes action it is clearly a sinking ship.”
Six years ago, President Bush promised
to fully fund NCLB. But the president has consistently refused to make
good on his promises. Due to Bush’s recent veto of the FY 2008 education
appropriations bill, there will be a $14.8 billion gap in funding for NCLB
programs. That is on top of the previous cumulative gap of $56.1 billion.
The ruling is a major victory for the
National Education Association and the other plaintiffs – including nine
school districts and nine NEA state affiliates – which brought the lawsuit
in April 2005 to oppose costly federal regulations that divert money from
children and classrooms to paperwork and bureaucracy. Today’s ruling by
the appeals court reverses the lower court’s November 2005 summary
judgment dismissing the lawsuit.
At issue is Section 9527(a) of the law
that says, “Nothing 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.”
NEA and the other plaintiffs had argued
in their complaint that this section of the law prevents the federal
government from requiring states and school districts to spend their own
funds to comply with the law’s mandates.
The lawsuit does not challenge the
laudable goals of the law or call for its dismantling. Instead, it simply
argues that any federal mandates in this law must come with tools and
resources to get the job done. Otherwise, educators can’t be expected to
do more with less. The court agreed, holding that the Education
Department’s interpretations of NCLB, requiring that states and school
districts devote their own funds to NCLB compliance, “violate the Spending
Clause.”
“It’s time for the Secretary to comply
with the law and the Constitution,” Weaver said. “If the administration
won’t ensure that states and schools have the federal funds needed to
implement the law, then they must cease with threats to punish states and
districts who cannot comply due to lack of federal funds.”
The lack of funding at
issue in the lawsuit is just one aspect of NCLB that has come under
increased fire recently. Parents, teachers and lawmakers have called for
reform because of the law’s obsessive focus on standardized testing,
heavy-handed punishments and bureaucratic protocols.
For more information, please visit:
www.nea.org/esea
The decision is available at:
www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/08a0006p-06.pdf
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