A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against the Department of Education that claimed an advisory committee on implementing the No Child Left Behind Act failed to include enough representatives of teachers and students.
The Center for Law and Education, a Washington-based group that focuses on school improvement and student rights alleged in its suit that the department did not seat the correct number of teacher and student representatives on its 24-member panel that was to give advice on statewide accountability systems under the federal law.
A federal district judge dismissed the suit, saying the center and other plaintiffs lacked legal standing to bring the claim
On Jan. 21, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in Washington, unanimously upheld the dismissal of the suit. The court said there was a “long chain” between lack of participation on the advisory panel and the accountability measures that a state might enact and which might harm the plaintiffs.
