N.A.A.C.P. Is Bush Ally in Connecticut School Case [Sorry, Dem Party leaders...]

The NYT ^ | Feb 1, 2006 | AVI SALZMAN

[summer]

N.A.A.C.P. officials said on Tuesday that they were trying to intervene in a lawsuit over the No Child Left Behind Law on the side of the Bush administration and against the State of Connecticut because of a core principle: that states do not have the right to ignore federal legislation that aims to help minorities.

"The issue goes beyond the specifics of No Child Left Behind to potentially affect other federal statutes designed to protect civil rights," said Victor L. Goode, assistant general counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "One can't help but remember back in the Dixiecrat period when certain Southern states asserted that they were not required to comply with certain federal civil rights laws designed to protect people's rights."

The Connecticut State N.A.A.C.P. filed a motion on Monday to intervene in a lawsuit filed by the State of Connecticut against Margaret Spellings, the secretary of education. The state contends that the federal government came up about $50 million short in funding for education and testing required under No Child Left Behind, and that Connecticut should not be asked to spend its own money to comply with the law....

The N.A.A.C.P. said in its filing that "Connecticut is failing its most disempowered children," and included three minority students in the motion to intervene.

Civil rights lawyers are concerned about the precedent that a Connecticut victory would set.

"We would not want states or other entities to not enforce laws like the 1964 Civil Rights Act or the 1968 Civil Rights Act on some notion that they don't have enough money to enforce it," said Mr. Goode, the N.A.A.C.P. lawyer. "We don't want the door to be opened to this sort of thing."

[JulieRNR21]

Thanks, summer. I have sent Frances Rice a copy of this thread.

National Black Republican Association

[nutmeg]

Connecticut ping!

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[summer]

My pleasure! :)

[Born Conservative]

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[bboop]

Summer, I agree. I think NCLB is ridiculous, but there is some right thinking in it. That Bush would stand behind it, WITH the NAACP - it's terrific. And that the libs are fighting it will not make them look good to the black community.