‘No Child Left Behind’—

Rell Signs Bill Backing Blumenthal Lawsuit

HARTFORD (AP) — Gov M. Jodi Rell, despite some misgivings, has signed a bill that authorizes the state to sue the federal government over the No Child Left Behind law.

The bill was approved in last month’s special session of the legislature.

The decision by Rell gives added weight to Attorney General Richard Blumenthal’s threat to sue the US Department of Education.

Blumenthal said Monday he plans to file the suit by the time schools open next month.

“While the governor feels fighting the act is better left in the hands of the state’s congressional delegation, she fully understands the attorney general’s motivation and is interested in the outcome,” Rell spokesman Adam Liegeot said Monday.

The state Board of Education has not yet backed Blumenthal’s plans to sue the federal government. But some towns and education organizations are backing the potential lawsuit.

Blumenthal and others estimate the federal act will impose approximately $440 million in unfunded education mandates on Connecticut cities and towns, and the state, by 2008.

The law calls for a broad expansion of testing and a shake-up of schools that fail to make sufficient progress, including low-income children, special education students, and members of minority groups.

Connecticut has sought a waiver that would exempt it from expanding standardized testing to grades three, five, and seven next year. Officials instead want to use a testing model they say would be more useful to teachers.

The US Department of Education has said it would hold off on a decision about the waiver, which has already been denied once. The federal agency also denied a state request to test students with disabilities at their ability levels rather than their grade levels.