Connecticut governor backs NCLB lawsuit.

Connecticut Gov. M Jodi Rell has backed the state's intent to sue the federal government over the No Child Left Behind act. Rell, a Republican, signed legislation in July authorizing the suit that would present the first challenge to the act by a state. The state's attorney general, Democrat Richard Blumenthal, is bringing the suit.

"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," says Adam Liegeot, a spokesman for the governor.

State officials had repeatedly requested more flexibility in the law, including asking the federal department of education for a waiver of the NCLB mandate that students be tested in every grade from three through eighth. Connecticut Department of Education Commissioner Betty J. Sternberg says the testing would cost the state an additional $8 million.

Sternberg says she understood Rell's initial hesitancy to back the lawsuit. "After all, she is a Republican and the president believes this piece of legislation is one of his main contributions."

But Sternberg says Rell's backing gives greater weight to the suit. "I know that she believes that the cost of the additional requirements of this law do not have any equal benefit to our youngsters," says Sternberg. "Around that in particular she felt it makes sense to see what happens in the courts."