Michael Simpson [Assistant General Counsel, National Education Association]: "In a major victory for students, parents, and public education, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held on January 7th that the Bush Administration's interpretation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) violates the federal Constitution. The court's ruling came in an NEA-sponsored lawsuit filed in 2005 on behalf of school districts from Michigan, Texas, and Vermont, NEA, and several NEA affiliates challenging the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) demand that states and school districts expend their own funds in order to comply with mandates of NCLB when there is a shortfall in federal funding.

The lawsuit is based on the "unfunded mandates" provision of NCLB (§ 9527(a)), which provides, in relevant part, that "[n]othing in this Act shall be construed to … mandate a State or any subdivision thereof to spend any funds or incur any costs not paid for under this Act." The plaintiffs argue that this provision means that ED cannot require states and local school districts to comply with NCLB requirements that are not funded by federal money. The Sixth Circuit agreed, holding that ED's contrary reading of NCLB "violate[s] the Spending Clause" of the Constitution. NEA estimates that the law has been underfunded by at least $70 billion since its enactment in 2001.

This is a major victory because the Court of Appeal reached the merits of the case and ruled in our favor. The Court said that the unfunded mandates provision means exactly what it says: that the federal government cannot require states and school districts to expend their own funds to comply with the NCLB mandates.

The case was remanded to the district court "for further proceedings consistent with this opinion," which could include further litigation on the question whether the federal government actually provides sufficient funds for the plaintiff school districts to comply fully with NCLB. There is also the possibility that this lawsuit may produce a political solution: Congress and the President could provide the federal funds needed to attain NCLB's goals.

ED has 45 days from the date of the decision (i.e., January 7) to file with the Sixth Circuit a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc, and 90 days from January 7 (or from the disposition of a motion for rehearing) to file a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court. In a statement issued on January 8, ED Secretary Spellings announced that the "federal government is exploring all legal options available."