NEA files first national lawsuit.

After months of threats, the National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers' union, did it. Along with eight school districts and several state education associations, the NEA recently filed the first of its kind national lawsuit that pushes the Bush administration to pay the costs of the No Child Left Behind law's mandates.

"We're standing up for children, whose parents are saying, 'No more' to costly federal regulations that drain money from classrooms and spend it on paperwork, bureaucracy, and big test companies," NEA President Reg Weaver states in a release.

The U.S. Department of Education and the Achievement Alliance are among those opposing the suit. In a written statement, Susan Aspey, an education department spokeswoman, calls it "regrettable," spending time and members' "money in courtrooms." In three years, student achievement is rising and the achievement gap is narrowing, she says.

In a written statement, the Achievement Alliance says the suit won't help teachers struggling to help close achievement gaps and overcome obstacles of racism and poverty. Instead of filing a suit, "NEA should be working to ensure that their members are afforded every support needed to educate all of their students well," the statement says.

The Education Intelligence Agency, a teacher union watchdog group, allegedly found a memo from NEA's chief attorney two years ago claiming NCLB was voluntary and not an unfunded mandate, The Washington Times reports. NEA declined to comment.

Fast Facts

* The lawsuit Pontiac School District v. (U.S. Education Secretary Margaret) Spellings, includes eight school districts in Vermont, Texas and Michigan as plaintiffs.

* Since the law took effect in 2002, states have been short $27 billion from the federal government to meet the laws mandates.

* Studies show that state taxpayers must pay up to $1.5 and 1.2 billion in Ohio and Texas, respectively, to meet regulations.

Source: NEA, www.nea.org