Connecticut v. USA

Connecticut Sues the U.S. Over School Testing - New York Times

I'm pulling for Connecticut:

Connecticut sued the federal government yesterday, accusing the Bush administration of being "rigid, arbitrary and capricious" in the enforcement of its signature education law and seeking relief from a requirement that it scrap its own testing program in favor of one the state says will not help children but will cost millions.

The suit, the first by a state to challenge Mr. Bush's No Child Left Behind law, argues that Connecticut is not being adequately reimbursed for the cost of expanding to annual testing from its current schedule of every other year.

Officials said that and other provisions of the law would force Connecticut to spend $50 million of its own money in coming years. The law specifically bans the federal government from imposing mandates without financing them.

"No matter how good its goals, and I agree with N.C.L.B.'s goals, the federal government is not above the law," said Connecticut's attorney general, Richard Blumenthal.

If that last sentence doesn't strike you as noteworthy, it should ... it used to be labelled "conservative" to believe such a thing. Then again, conservatives also used to be against unfunded mandates. My how the times change.