A joint legislative committee in Maine has given its blessing to a measure that would allow the state attorney general to sue the U.S. Department of Education over the No Child Left Behind Act. Lawmakers contend the 3-year-old federal law is too inadequately funded to implement.
The committee on education and cultural affairs unanimously passed the bill May 4. Gov. John E. Baldacci, a Democrat, has said he supports the legislation.
According to Senate Majority Leader Michael F. Brennan, a Democrat and the chief sponsor of the bill, the federal government now reimburses Maine for only about half of what the NCLB requirements are costing the state.
