Mood:  irritated

State is first to sue over 'No Child Left Behind' law

HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) -- Connecticut filed a federal lawsuit Monday challenging President Bush's No Child Left Behind school reform law because, it says, no money is provided to cover expensive testing and required programs.

The state is the first to go to court over the law.

"The goals of the No Child Left Behind Act are laudable," said the state's attorney general, Richard Blumenthal. "Indeed, Connecticut has pursued these goals for decades, but the federal government has failed in implementing them."

Blumenthal announced plans for the lawsuit this spring, after the federal government repeatedly refused to waive some of the requirements of No Child Left Behind. The law aims to have every student in public schools proficient in reading and math by 2014.

Mandatory annual testing has been Connecticut's chief complaint. The state, which has been administering its own mastery test for 20 years, wants to continue testing every other year.

"This mindless rigidity harms our taxpayers, but most of all our children," Blumenthal said.

Standardized testing in grades three, five and seven is scheduled to begin this school year.

A recent report projects that the state will fall $41.6 million short in paying for the law's requirements through 2008, but federal officials question that estimate. A state law prohibits state money from being used to pay for the federal law's requirements.

In Utah, the state legislature passed a measure defying the federal law, and it was signed by Gov. Jon Huntsman on May 2. The law gives state educational standards priority over the requirements of No Child Left Behind.

The nation's largest teacher's union, the National Education Association, joined with school districts and union chapters across the country to file a lawsuit this year challenging the law. Connecticut's union chapter is part of that lawsuit.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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I have never been a fan of the No Child Left Behind Act because it is a thinly veiled attempt to funnel federal funds for public schools into private, mostly religious and parochial schools. By offering parents vouchers to send children to private schools, the government is denying money to the poor public schools and causing them become even poorer. I am also against it because most of the private schools are of a religious and/or Christian nature, and using federal funds to fund Christian/religious organizations is a blatant attack against the separation of church and state. President Bush and his right wing Republican cronies are trying to force a Christian theocracy on the United States, where everyone must be straight, Christian, pro-life, pro-abstinence before marriage, and pro-using the Ten Commandments to govern the land.

The United States is not homogenous and has marketed itself as a heterogeneous nation where people of all races, nations, religions, and creeds can come to worship freely and practice Capitalism. To go against that is a sin against everything this nation has supposedly built itself upon. To turn the United States into a Christian Theocracy where free thinking is considered an act of treason is a bait and switch. Somebody call the Better Business Bureau. Fuck it! Here’s my receipt, give a me a damn refund.

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I’m really pissed at the Democratic Party because they are a bunch of pussies. They claim to be against everything the Republican Party and George W. Bush stands for, but they don’t do anything to stop him. They don’t shout loud enough. They don’t make a big enough fuss. They fight each other and continue to act rational in the face of irrationality. Stop leading by quiet, meek, rational examples, and go crazy like the Republicans. Get on television and say what you stand for and don’t back down. Don’t be afraid to take a stand and not waffle. The Republicans do it all the time and they don’t back down. Have some fucking convictions and stick to them, whether or not the press may think you’re wrong. Who gives a damn about the press thinks? Give a damn what your patrons think! Give a damn about what your donators and supporters, like me, think! Be loud, be bold, be brash, and be united in front of and behind the cameras. Don’t gossip about each other like a bunch of mean pre-teens. I refuse to give another dime to the DNC until they show a back bone, and that doesn’t mean pushing Hillary Rodham Clinton as our next presidential candidate. Nobody likes her.
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To the horror of no one but myself, I have decided not to vote in the NYC Mayoral elections because I don't want any of the candidates to win. I don't like the Democratic nominees because they are professional Mayoral candidates. They have all run at least 4 our of the last 5 elections, and I still don't know their positions. I like Mike Bloomberg but his overzealous and singleminded drive to bring a football stadium or basketball stadium to NYC keeps me from voting for him. We don't need any more people, tourists, cars, pollution or buildings in NYC except some affordable (below $1000 a month)and rentable apartments.