in the collection
Stand Up For Children: Pontiac v. Spellings
On March 22, 2006, NEA and the other plaintiffs filed their opening brief (PDF, 200KB, 56 pages ) with the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit asking that the decision of District Court Judge Friedman dismissing the complaint be reversed.
The appeal argues that the district court decision "was both misplaced and unfounded" and cites extensive legislative history to support the plaintiffs' interpretation of Sec. 9527(a), which prohibits unfunded mandates. The Federal government has at least 30 days (from March 22) to file its response. Once that response is filed, NEA will file another brief replying to the government's arguments.
NEA announced on April 3, 2006 that six states and the District of Columbia, the Governor of Pennsylvania, school administrators, and state and local elected officials have filed amicus "friend of the court" briefs supporting NEA's legal appeal.
Copies of briefs from the following are available online: Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell (PDF, 911KB, 36 pages), Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (PDF, 140KB, 36 pages), American Association of School Administrators (PDF, 132KB, 33 pages ), and California State and Local Officials (PDF, 266KB, 23 pages ).
The NEA-led lawsuit has had widespread backing from the beginning. Elected officials and other organizations issued statements of support for the lawsuit and the need for additional funding for NCLB soon after the official announcement. Here are some samples.
The April 20 announcement also was carried in hundreds of radio and television newscasts and newspaper and news Web site reports across the country. Here's a sampling of the media coverage.
— NEA
NEA website
http://www.nea.org/lawsuit/index.html
INDEX OF THE EGGPLANT
