Connecticut Sues Feds Over No Child Left Behind Law

The Associated Press reports that Connecticut's Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed a federal lawsuit today challenging the No Child Left Behind law.

The lawsuit asks a federal judge to declare that the federal government cannot require state and local money be used to meet federal testing goals.

Blumenthal has been talking about brining such lawsuit since last spring.

Connecticut has been administering its own mastery test for 20 years and wants to continue testing every other year. The federal law requires annual testing, and federal education officials have repeatedly denied the state's requests for waivers.

Last week The Day reported that Connecticut's Department of Education released test results showing the number of Connecticut elementary and middle schools failing to make adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind act this year remained at 145, or 18 percent.

UPDATE: The New York Times reports that UPDATE: The New York Times reports that Connecticut 's lawsuit is the first by any state to challenge the No Child Left Behind Law.

According to the Times, the Connecticut suit opens a new legal front in a struggle between states and the federal government that has seen many state legislatures protest the law.

After a showdown with Texas over a federal ruling on the testing of disabled children, the Department of Education imposed an $888,000 fine on the state this summer, but approved a testing regimen for disabled students that is more advantageous to Texas than to any other state.

Mr. Blumenthal participated in a conference call last week with several outspoken opponents of the federal law, including a Republican legislator who wrote a Utah law that protests the federal law's intrusion on states' rights and a San Francisco parent who opposes the federal law's requirement that public schools provide information on students to military recruiters.

When Mr. Blumenthal announced his intention to sue in April, he said he was in talks with several other state attorneys general who were considering joining the Connecticut suit. Maine authorities confirmed that they had discussed that possibility. Maine's governor, John E. Baldacci, and the State Legislature have urged Attorney General Steve Rowe to sue, also arguing that the federal law is forcing Maine to spend state funds to carry out federal mandates.

Comments

[paulkz]

HI,
I totally agree with that No child left behind an illegal because it provides no national support for its requirements. According to the Newspaper, the Connecticut suit opens a new legal front in a struggle between states and the federal government that has seen many state legislatures protest the law.
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Paul

http://www.treatmentcenters.org/connecticut

[xanthe]

No child left behind an illegal because it provides no federal funding for its requirements.Connecticut chief complaint with the law has been testing.Connecticut is one of states that have clashed with the U.S. department of education over no child left behind. Thank you.
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xanthe
Addiction Recovery Connecticut