| The Constitution does not specifically authorize the federal government to deal with public education. Congress has used the Spending Clause to exercise power while still satisfying conditions in the 10th Amendment (McColl, 2005). The passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLBA) poses a problem concerning the degree to which the federal government should have authority in public school policy. A major topic of the NCLBA debate has centered on funding. The purpose of this study was to conduct legal research to determine the constitutional boundaries on the federal role in public education and examine the funding issues faced by both states and local school districts in their efforts to comply with the NCLBA guidelines. Specifically, the study examines current legal claims against the federal government regarding the misuse of congressional power under the Spending Clause.;Legal research methodology was employed for this study, which examined the current status of Spending Clause jurisprudence as it relates to federal funding of the NCLBA. Research for this study focused on analyzing constitutional law, statutory law, case law, and legal commentary in order to determine the current status of the law regarding unfunded mandates. Since becoming law in 2002, there have been six legal cases concerning NCLBA as an unfunded mandate. Five of the NCLBA cases have made it to the federal level, but none of the cases has reached the Supreme Court. One case, Pontiac v. Spellings is awaiting a review from the Sixteenth Circuit en banc .;While NCLBA is not considered to be an unfunded mandate, it can certainly be considered an under funded mandate. Therefore, it is not reasonable to expect full compliance of state and local school systems with federal conditions that do not have full financial support from the government. The researcher recommends that the voting public, particularly state and local educators lobby with the politicians that represent them in order to change the NCLBA provisions that include an increase in federal funding. The researcher also recommends that Congress consider providing states with more flexibility in use of federal funds for public education. |
