I was pleased to read this AP article which appeared on Yahoo.com. A federal judge threw out the lawsuit by the NEA and school districts in three states on the grounds that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act is an unfunded mandate.

As I understand it, the judge's decision threw the case because he found that while federal departments are prohibited from creating unfunded mandates, there is nothing in the law which prevents congress from doing so. Since NCLB was an act of congress, even if the federal government provided zero funding and it was therefore an unfunded mandate, it would not be a violation of law.

Of course, NCLB is anything but unfunded. There is a significant amount of funding directed towards implementing the act. California's NCLB allocation alone is over $3B to implement the program.

Good job Your Honor! Kudos to Chief U.S. District Judge Bernard A. Friedman who recognized that NEA didn't have a case in this matter.