Connecticut NAACP Contests State's No Child Left Behind Suit

The Connecticut branch of the NAACP is requesting permission to intervene in the state's lawsuit against the federal No Child Left Behind education law. The civil rights group said the money being spent on the litigation could be spent on more teachers and other resources to improve equality in education.

"The bottom line is, the concerns with No Child Left Behind shouldn't be used as an excuse to not provide equity in education to these children, and they deserve a seat at the table," state NAACP President Scot X. Esdaile said.

Connecticut became the first state to try to block the 2002 law when Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed the lawsuit in August 2005, in U.S. District Court in Hartford.

I agree with the NAACP. The money Blumenthal is wasting on this litigation would do more good if spent on trying to improve underachieving schools. I also agree that Blumenthal's lawsuit distracts from the fact that there is an unacceptable gap between how white students and their minority counterparts perform on standardized tests.

Comments

[California Yankee]

Bird Dog, You may be right, but when? Last October Blumenthal announced he would not seek the Democratic nomination for governor in 2006. Instead he chose to run for re-election to an unprecedented fifth term as attorney general.

"I love this job," Blumenthal said. "It affords endless challenges and opportunities to help people.

"This job is also right for my family," he added. "My children are still at ages where they are counting on me to be there. I have always put family first, and I have decided to do it again now."

In 2000, David Plotz lamented that Blumenthal was supposed to be president and wondered what happened. New Haven Advocate political columnist Paul Bass explained:

He's intelligent. He's a decent guy. He just doesn't have the fire for a tough run. He wants it to be handed to him, and it never was.

[bird dog]

Blumenthal is running for governor. That's what this is about.