Federal

Table: Hear Ye, Hear Ye: The No Child Left Behind Act in Court

May 03, 2005 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

See Also

Return to the main story,

NCLB Cases Face Hurdles in the Courts

Several lawsuits in federal and state courts have centered on provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Some examples:

Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now v. New York City Department of Education

Federal suit by ACORN alleged that the New York City and Albany, N.Y., school districts had denied some children their rights under the federal law to transfer out of schools that had failed to make adequate yearly progress.

Status: A federal district judge in New York City dismissed the suit in 2003, ruling that the law did not create an individual right to sue under the transfer or supplemental-educational-services provisions.

Kegerreis v. United States

A public school teacher in Kansas City, Kan., sued the federal government, arguing that the law unfairly seeks to hold only school personnel accountable if students have unsatisfactory test scores.

Status: A federal district judge in 2003 dismissed the teacher’s suit, ruling that it relied on hypothetical harms, and that the federal government had not waived its immunity from being sued.

Reading School District v. [Pennsylvania] Department of Education

The Reading, Pa., district sued the state education department in state court last year, contending that some of its schools had failed to make AYP because the state did not provide enough money or did not translate state tests into Spanish.

Status: The state commonwealth court ruled against the district last year on the grounds that the state planned to have tests in other languages ready by this year. The district has appealed the ruling to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. It has two other challenges to the state’s administration of the law pending in the commonwealth court.

Fresh Start Academy v. Toledo Board of Education

A private tutoring provider claimed that the Toledo, Ohio, district had unfairly blocked
it from providing supplemental educational services to students under the law.

Status: A federal district judge ruled last month that private tutoring providers have
no right to sue to enforce the federal law.

Ottawa Township High School District v.
U.S. Department
of Education

Two Illinois school districts sued the federal department and the state board of education early this year, arguing that the law’s requirement that special education students count as a subgroup for school accountability conflicts with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act’s mandate that each such student have an individualized education program.

Status: The suit is pending in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

School District of the City of Pontiac v. Spellings

The suit filed last month by the National Education Association and districts in several states contends that the federal government is underfunding the law, in violation
of a provision that no state or district should incur costs not paid for by the act.

Status: The suit is pending in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

SOURCE: National Education Association; Education Week
Related Tags:

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School & District Management
Moving the Needle on Attendance: What’s Working NOW
See how family engagement is improving attendance, and how to put it to work in schools.
Content provided by TalkingPoints
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Assessment Webinar
Rethinking STEM Assessment: Strategies for Administrators
School and district leaders will explore strategies to enhance STEM assessment practices across their district, within schools and classrooms.
Content provided by Project Lead The Way
Federal Webinar Keeping Up with the Trump Administration's Latest K-12 Moves: Subscriber-Exclusive Quick Hit
EdWeek subscribers, join this 30-minute webinar to find out what the latest federal policy changes mean for K-12 education.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal Trump Admin. Pauses Ed. Dept. Layoffs After Judge's Order
The U.S. Department of Education is slowly complying with a federal court order to reinstate staff.
3 min read
Phil Rosenfelt, center, an attorney with the Office of the General Counsel at the Department of Education, is greeted by supporters after retrieving personal belongings from the Education Department building in Washington on March 24, 2025.
Phil Rosenfelt, center, an attorney with the office of general counsel at the U.S. Department of Education, is greeted by supporters after retrieving personal belongings from the Education Department building in Washington on March 24, 2025, the last day of work for hundreds of agency employees. The Trump administration has had to bump back the day it planned to stop paying laid-off staff.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
Federal Tutoring, After-School, and Other Student Services at Risk as Trump Cuts AmeriCorps
Deep cuts to programs across the federal government have left students without programming they'd come to count on.
8 min read
Members of the City Year program work at Isaac Newton Middle School for Math and Science in East Harlem during the MLK Day of Service on Jan. 20, 2025, in New York City.
Members of the City Year program work at Isaac Newton Middle School for Math and Science in East Harlem during the MLK Day of Service on Jan. 20, 2025, in New York City. City Year places AmeriCorps volunteers in underserved schools, but cuts to the federal service agency have led City Year to scale back some of its AmeriCorps volunteer-powered programs.
Courtesy of City Year New York
Federal Republicans Press Top Ed. Dept. Nominees to Commit to Trump's Agenda
Penny Schwinn and Kimberly Richey appeared before lawmakers for leadership in the department.
6 min read
Deputy Secretary of Education nominee Penny Schwinn, left, and Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights nominee Kimberly Richey prior to testifying before the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee about their nominations for the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., on June 5, 2025.
Penny Schwinn, left, and Kimberly Richey speak prior to testifying before the U.S. Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee in Washington on June 5, 2025. Schwinn is President Donald Trump's nominee to serve as deputy secretary in the U.S. Department of Education. Richey is Trump's nominee to lead the department's office for civil rights.
Jason Andrew for Education Week
Federal Opinion 'Narrower, Meaner, and More Loyal:' Trump’s Ed. Agenda Hurts Students Like Me
How President Trump is weaponizing education policy—and why it matters.
J.T. Vazquez
4 min read
A hand on the scale weighed against a pile of books.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty + Education Week