Wilton Bulletin
Court case may help Connecticut fight No Child Left Behind mandates

Mar 25, 2008

A recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati, Ohio, could help Connecticut’s own case against the federal government, which argues that the federal mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) are not sufficiently funded.

The decision, based on a lawsuit filed by National Education Association affiliates in several states, along with eight school districts, recognizes that states were unaware of the financial obligations they would incur by accepting federal funds under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Signed into law in 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act is a revision of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It requires schools to have 100% proficiency among students in math, reading and language arts by 2014, as well as to meet graduation and attendance standards. The underlying intent of the law is to hold schools accountable for students’ achievements, and it outlines severe consequences for goals not met.

A key argument in both the Cincinnati case and the state’s case, which was filed by Attorney General Richard Blumenthal in 2005 and amended in 2006, focuses on the unfunded mandate provision of the act. The act falls under the spending clause limitations of the constitution, Mr. Blumenthal said in a press release last month.

In Connecticut’s case, Mr. Blumenthal similarly claims the federal mandates of the act are illegally underfunded. He said the state led a group of eight states in an amicus curiae brief submitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati supporting that result.

“If Connecticut follows the federal government’s suggestion and cheapens its testing model — eliminating writing assessments altogether, using only multiple choice in the added testing grades — the state will spend about $9.9 million,” a 2006 press release from his office stated. “Even under this cheaper testing model,” it continued, “Connecticut is left with a $4-million unfunded mandate.”

The state’s argument also criticizes the NCLB assessment protocol, which compares one discrete class against another discrete class rather than following the achievement of an individual student over time.

The No Child Left Behind law, among other conditions, requires all school administrators to test students in third grade through eighth grade as well as 10th grade. If schools don’t make “adequate yearly progress,” they are penalized.

“One of the problems with this law, as I see it, is the provision related to the performance of subgroups, for example, English Language Learners or Special Education Students. Most of the students receiving special services are held to the same testing standards as those in regular education programs, despite the fact that they may be behind in their academic development,” Dr. Gary Richards, superintendent of schools, wrote in an e-mail to The Bulletin. “Under-performance by such a subgroup can result in a school being labeled as not making Adequate Yearly Progress.”

The consequences of not making adequate yearly progress range from public notification that the schools are in need of improvement to the state stepping in and personally managing the school, according to Dr. Richards.

Dr. Richards said the costs to the district attributed to NCLB are minimal right now; however, they will become a factor if the schools fail to make adequate yearly progress over time.

“With that in mind, we continue to lobby for NCLB reform,” Dr. Richards wrote.

NCLB monitors how this year’s students in fourth grade, for example, compare with last year’s fourth graders. Dr. Richards said this kind of monitoring has its benefits, such as revealing gaps in the district’s curriculum and showing how the sequencing of learning activities affects student performance, but it also has its downside.

“One of the pitfalls of comparing how this year’s fourth graders compare with last year’s fourth graders is that the groups are different,” Dr. Richards wrote. “Although we are committed to improving all students’ performance, some classes are stronger than others — as a group.”

The American Association of School Administrators released a statement on the Jan. 7 ruling, calling it an “important step toward making the federal role in education commensurate with federal funding.”

“Previous Supreme Court precedents held that states and communities could not be forced to pay for federal programs they had applied for if Congress and the federal government failed to make clear the complete cost of federal programs,” the release said.

Mr. Blumenthal said last month the state will ask the U.S. District Court in its case to strongly consider the ruling in Cincinnati.

“If necessary, we will ask for immediate permission to appeal to our U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, so that an eventual ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court may be sought as soon as possible,” he said in the release. “We will also urge Congress to act — as soon as possible — to eliminate all doubt that No Child Left Behind was explicitly and purposely framed to forbid unfunded mandates.”

© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers