Demanding that President George W. Bush and the U.S. Department of Education become more accountable in providing adequate funding for the No Child Left Behind law, the National Education Association filed a national lawsuit against the administration Wednesday.

The lawsuit, filed by the NEA on behalf of several school districts in Vermont, Texas and Michigan, is the first ever of its kind.

While it appears to attack No Child Left Behind, NEA President Reg Weaver told BlackAmericaWeb.com that’s not necessarily the case.

“For the record, I have always stated that the objectives of No Child Left Behind are good,” said Weaver, adding that the intentions of the law –– higher test scores, smaller class sizes and the hiring of highly-qualified teachers –– are issues he and the NEA, which represents 2.7 million elementary and secondary educators nationwide, have advocated for years. The objectives, Weaver said, haven’t been sufficiently supported by the administration, a matter that has caused problems for school districts throughout the country.

“If the government mandates certain programs, we believe they are in fact responsible for the funding,” Weaver said. “The federal government, we believe, over the past four years is in arrears of about $27 billion to school districts nationwide.” That figure is the difference between what Congress authorized for No Child Left Behind when it was signed into law in 2002 and what has actually been spent.

In addition to the NEA, the lawsuit’s plaintiffs include the Pontiac School District in Michigan; the Laredo Independent School District in Texas and seven school districts in Vermont.

Weaver said at least 10 states and 7,000 school districts received less funding under Title I this current school year than they did during the 2003-2004 academic year. He anticipates even more school districts getting less funding for the 2005-2006 school year.

“The administration will not tell you that so you can’t see what the impact is, and that’s very problematic,” Weaver said. “By the end of the next school year, it is expected that every teacher be highly qualified and certified, and what happens is that these districts and states are being required to implement massive mandates at the same time the funding is being cut. That’s not right, and that’s not fair.”

According to Weaver, for nearly three years, the NEA has offered suggestions on how to make No Child Left Behind work. Filing the lawsuit is the last resort.

“We been trying to get some changes politically and legislatively, just trying to fix it,” Weaver said. “We have not been as successful as we’d like. The children and parents of America say they can no longer be put in the position to have inadequate education.”

Weaver said that it’s also wrong for the administration to have the public believe that No Child Left Behind is especially beneficial to school districts with predominantly minority student populations.

“People will say that this is a good program for minority children, but don’t be fooled,” Weaver said, attributing much of the progress of inner-city school systems to the teachers and administrators who’ve dedicated years to improving the quality of education for children.

“It’s a cruel hoax to try and convince the minority community that you’re acting in the best interest of the children, but not adequately funding the legislation,” Weaver said.

The Education Department released a written statement calling the lawsuit “regrettable.”

“No Child Left Behind is, at its core, about fairness and educational opportunity for all students,” the statement reads. “The preliminary results are in, and in just three short years, states across the nation are showing strong gains in student achievement. The achievement gap –– decades in the making –– is finally starting to narrow.

"President Bush and Congress have provided historic funding increases for education, and yet we continue to hear the same weak arguments from the NEA. Four separate studies assert the law is appropriately funded and not a mandate.”

Over the years, the NEA and the Bush administration have not always seen eye to eye. In fact, Weaver said the two sides have not had a working relationship.

“It’s a two-way street, and we’ve made the effort. It hasn’t been reciprocated, so we just moved on,” Weaver said.

Several attempts to schedule meetings were made when former Education Secretary Rod Paige first took over the department in 2001, but were in vain, Weaver said. Things weren’t helped when Paige called the NEA a terrorist organization, a comment for which he later apologized. Weaver said he has also been unsuccessful in establishing a relationship with Paige’s replacement, Margaret Spellings, who’s been in office since the start of the year.

Weaver said he is not concerned about any backlash that could happen as a result of the lawsuit. For some, he said, taking a stand against No Child Left Behind makes the NEA  heroic.

“In my travels, you have a whole lot of folk who have real issues with the way this law is currently crafted,” Weaver said. “Many of our children are suffering in many school districts across the country.

“You know, you can’t fatten a pig by weighing it. You’ve got to feed it. And in order for these kids to be able to do what we all want them to do, they have to have resources in the way of qualified funding and qualified people.”

The Education Department, through its statement, said they have established relationships with “respected, national education organizations, including the Council of the Great City Schools and the Council of Chief State School Officers,” all of which have helped make “unprecedented national progress.” It’s a plan that works, the department said, and will be followed to keep the progress going.

Said the Education Department, “We intend to continue moving forward in partnership with national and state education leaders and look forward to the day when the NEA will join us in helping children who need our help the most in classrooms, instead of spending its time and members’ money in courtrooms.”