A federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit brought by a Vermont school district and several others nationwide that challenges the way the No Child Left Behind law is funded.
School districts in three states and the nation’s largest teachers union sued over the financing of the education program backed by President Bush. They argue 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 itself prohibits unfunded mandates.
William Mathis, superintendent of the Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union, one of the plaintiffs was elated to hear about yesterday’s ruling in Lansing, Michigan. He says it forces the issue to the table and reinforces what he and other school officials have said all along, that the act specifically bars unfunded mandates.
Mathis says No Child Left Behind, which was signed into law in 2002, is a horrendous transfer of obligations and costs onto school districts and the state.