Questions and Answers
about Pontiac v. Spellings

What is this lawsuit about?

The plaintiffs want federal officials to keep the promise they made to states and school districts when they enacted the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act  of 2001:  local communities would not be forced to pay for new federal mandates.

The law clearly says this in Section 9527(a):

Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize an officer or employee of the Federal Government to mandate, direct, or control a State, local education agency, or school's curriculum, program of instruction, or allocation of State or local resources, or mandate a State or any subdivision thereof to spend any funds or incur any costs not paid for under this Act.

The federal government has not given local schools enough money to carry out the law.  Instead, parents are forced to use their own limited local tax dollars to meet requirements dictated from Washington, D.C., and their children's schools get unfair federal "failing" labels.

Is this lawsuit about stopping No Child Left Behind?

No, we are asking the Bush administration to follow the requirements of its own law and pay for the regulations it is imposing on children's classrooms.

The Bush administration has increased education funding more than any other president - how can you say they haven't provided enough for schools?

Just take a look at the many studies cited in our lawsuit. The truth is that the administration and Congress have NOT provided enough funding and support for schools to follow the testing regimen and other regulations in the law.  So states and local school districts are cutting arts, sports and academics  to make up the difference.

Do local schools really have to follow so many of these regulations? Isn't the law quite flexible?

Any waivers or exceptions the administration might allow still don't change the fact that the law requires the federal government to pay for its education regulations.

Tell me about the school districts that are part of the lawsuit?

A visit to any of these districts will show the wide range of issues, concerns and struggles that local schools have with the one-size-fits-all education law:

Laredo's students include a very high percentage of English Language Learners.
Pontiac serves many low-income students and the districts in Vermont are rural.
But they all share the same difficulty in trying to meet the regulations imposed by the law: they simply can't afford it.

What will this lawsuit accomplish?

Filing this lawsuit is the only way to put pressure on Washington because bureaucrats aren't listening to the concerns of parents and teachers.

Do you think you will win?

The language of the law seems pretty clear cut to us, and we are confident that a judge will agree.

How long will this lawsuit drag on?

That fully depends on the Department of Education and the judicial system. It's hard to say when a final decision will be made.

Isn't this just wasting taxpayer dollars that could be spent on schools?

Federal rules and regulations imposed on local school districts are expensive. When parents have to pay for what Washington will not, then it means their money is going toward paperwork, bureaucracy and big testing companies - not to their children's education.  Education is too important to let that continue.

What about the other things the government has to pay for?

If providing America's children with a high quality education is a priority for the administration, and this Congress, then they should invest in it.