NEA Files 'No Child Left Behind' Lawsuit

April 20, 2005
By Bess Keller

After more than 1½ years of fanfare and false starts, the nation’s largest teachers’ union filed a lawsuit April 20 challenging the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
The suit against the U.S. Department of Education was brought by the National Education Association on behalf of school districts in Pontiac, Mich.; Laredo, Texas; and south-central Vermont, as well as itself and 10 affiliates of the 2.7 million-member national union.
But the union’s original plan to sue only after finding a state to go along was apparently trumped when Connecticut officials recently announced that they had decided to challenge the law alone despite an offer of help from the NEA.
The NEA suit charges that the sweeping federal education law is illegal because it forces states to use their own money to carry out its mandates—contrary to a provision in the federal education law, the union says.

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