School District of City of Pontiac v. Secretary of U.S. Dept. of Educ.
From Conservapedia
In School District of City of Pontiac v. Secretary of U.S. Dept. of Educ., 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 198 (6th Cir. Jan. 7, 2008), the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) federal statute fails to provide clear notice to states as to whether they must bear additional costs of compliance with its requirements, and thus states need not comply with requirements of that legislation that are not funded by the federal government. The National Education Association, the large teachers' union, filed the lawsuit in April 2005.[1]
In a 2-1 opinion, the Court relied on the doctrine that "statutes enacted under the Spending Clause of the United States Constitution must provide clear notice to the States of their liabilities should they decide to accept federal funding under those statutes."
The opinion of the Court was written by Judge R. Guy Cole, Jr., who was appointed by President Bill Clinton. However, he was joined by district Judge John Breen, who was sitting on the Sixth Circuit for this case by random designation and who had been appointed to the district court by President George W. Bush.
Judge David McKeague, appointed to the bench by President George H.W. Bush, dissented with the following comment:
- My reading of § 7907(a) is supported by the plain text of the NCLB as well as its overall structure. Under the NCLB, participating States and the school districts within them must comply with extensive educational requirements if the States choose to accept federal funding. The NCLB's funding amount for a school district is dependent on congressional appropriation decisions and the proportion of at-risk students in the school district, not on the cost of compliance with the NCLB's educational requirements. My reading also recognizes State and local governments' long-standing responsibility for largely administrating and funding our children's education, and it properly charges Congress and State officials with knowledge of that fact. Because the NCLB's requirements are sufficiently clear, I would hold that requiring compliance with them is an appropriate exercise of congressional authority under the Spending Clause.
