School Districts, Teachers Union Sue Bush Administration
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WASHINGTON – The nation’s largest teachers union and school districts in three states sued the Bush administration yesterday over the No Child Left Behind law, aiming to free schools from complying with any part not paid for by the federal government.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for eastern Michigan, is the first major challenge to President Bush’s signature education policy. The outcome would apply directly to the districts in the case, but it could affect how the law is enforced in schools across the country.
Leading the fight is the National Education Association, a union of 2.7 million members and a political adversary of the administration. The union mobilized its forces for Senator Kerry, a Democrat of Massachusetts, in the 2004 presidential race, and its objections to Mr. Bush’s law prompted Rod Paige, the former education secretary, to call the NEA a “terrorist organization.”
The other plaintiffs are nine school districts in Michigan, Vermont, and Mr. Bush’s home state of Texas, plus 10 NEA chapters in those states and Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Utah. The NEA is paying for the lawsuit.
Mr. Bush is facing battles on other fronts, too. The Republican-led Utah Legislature voted Tuesday to put its educational goals ahead of the federal law despite the possible loss of $76 million; Connecticut is planning its own lawsuit, and other states are balking over money.
The law is widely considered the most significant federal education act in decades. It puts particular emphasis on ensuring that schools give attention to minorities and poor children who have long fallen behind on achievement.
An attorney representing schools in Pontiac, Mich., Dennis Pollard, said the lawsuit was strictly about funding. “There is no intent to frustrate the purpose of No Child Left Behind,” he said.
The lawsuit is built upon one paragraph in the law that says no state or school district can be forced to spend its money on expenses the federal government has not covered.
“What it means is just what it says – that you don’t have to do anything this law requires unless you receive federal funds to do it,” said NEA general counsel Bob Chanin.
