No Child Left in courts...

This is probably nothing the Bush Administration wanted or planned for(kind of like Iraq(snap!)), but class action lawsuits have been filed in about half the states in the country for more funding to fairly implement his No Child Left Behind Initiative.

Giant poster boards filled with data from standardized tests dominate the courtroom where attorneys for some of the poorest school districts in South Carolina are suing the state legislature for billions of dollars in education funds.

Rocking gently back-and-forth on his black leather chair, Circuit Judge Thomas W. Cooper Jr. can instantly compare student achievement levels in the predominantly black rural districts with test results from affluent suburbs nearby. A computer database provides him with detailed information on such matters as comparative teacher salaries, SAT scores and the number of students who qualify for free lunches.

The scene in the South Carolina courtroom has become common across the United States as lawyers use data generated by the drive for higher standards in education as the basis for class-action lawsuits seeking more funding for poorer school districts. According to experts who track the lawsuits, half the states in the country are now involved in litigation over education funding.

Some say there is more to come:

In recent years, judges have sided with the plaintiffs in about 70 percent of the adequacy lawsuits, ordering states to come up with extra money, said Steven Smith, an education analyst at the National Conference of State Legislatures. He predicted that the number of lawsuits is likely to rise as "more and more schools" fail to meet the goals of No Child Left Behind and state school accountability laws.

"Plaintiff organizations see the [No Child Left Behind] data as good ammunition to use in court," he said.

The adequacy lawsuits have been made possible by clauses in most state constitutions promising to provide a "basic" or "adequate" education. All but five states have witnessed some kind of legal battle over what constitutes an "adequate" education , and some states are gearing up for their second or third lawsuit.

"From our point of view, testing has been very helpful in pinpointing the problem, and showing exactly which kids are not making the grade," said Michael A. Rebell, the chief litigator for the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, which won a 10-year legal battle against the state of New York last year.

Ultimately, I fear, this will bring down those districts that do well rather than raise the poor districts to a higher level. It will, in essence, make mediocrity the level schools attain rather than greatness. Of course, any money needs to be supplemented with parent involvement and strong fiscal management. And it seems some states don't care what the courts have to say.

In several states, the funding lawsuits have led to a test of strength between the courts and state legislatures, with lawmakers either refusing to implement court orders on adequate funding or dragging their feet. Last month, a judge in Kansas threatened to close down the state's school system after the legislature took no action on his order to increase funding for poor schools. The case is now before the state Supreme Court.

An interesting idea has been proposed over on Electablog:

I'd like to see states and cities adopt a philosophy similar to the one held by William Bratton and Mayor Rudy when they successfully brought down the crime numbers (with a little help from a demographic shift) in New York City.

One of the ideas that guided Bratton and company was an incredibly simple notion. Officers looked at a map of the city that included red dots wherever a crime had been committed. The sections of the city with the most dots were isolated and targeted. The theory was that if you let a continual series of crimes happen in a neighborhood, then those crimes will only increase in number and severity.

So they put the cops where the crimes were.

Makes sense, no?

Those who hold the educational purse-strings should employ the same strategy. Get a map. Find the districts and schools where students are performing poorly (this effort will likely have a double-benefit as the places where the schools are bad and the kids are "left behind" will almost always be the same place on the map where the crime dots will congregate).

Once the map is completed, start directing funds (and human resources) towards the problem areas.

He goes on to suggest that even fixing a broken window is a big step toward fixing a broken education system.

A broken window here, an unsafe environment there, and before you know it, you have kids who have given up.

If one needs incentive beyond altruism (and one usually does), look at this way. Kids who have given up are the leading cause of red dots in neighborhoods across this country.

Another link to send to Bush.