Last week, the state of Connecticut announced plans to sue the federal government over its educational program and unfunded mandate “No Child Left Behind.” Although Connecticut is the first state to actually sue, most have already joined in opposition to the act, in one way or another, since it was signed into law in January 2002.

The central issue in this fight between states and the federal government is money, because of the financial burden NCLB imposes. Leading this fight is Utah. Its House recently passed — unanimously — a bill to completely opt out of NCLB and its rigid provisions, despite the threatened withholding of federal funding. Utah’s legislators have reckoned NCLB to be so intrusive that the federal funding just isn’t worth the trouble.

The bill had support in Utah’s Senate, as well, but the Bush administration pressured Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to convince the Legislature to postpone all its “state’s rights” nonsense until April 20 — giving Education Secretary Margaret Spellings time to rush in and meet behind closed doors with the governor. This is coming on the heels of two years of Utah’s Republican-dominated Legislature fighting NCLB.

Not only would Utah’s likely act of opting out of NCLB be a political embarrassment for the Bush administration, given Utah’s ultra-conservative political makeup, but it could also spark other states to follow suit. Many states are glued to the situation in Salt Lake City, waiting to see what happens. The convincing power of the federal government’s threat to withdraw funding rests in part on the fear that other states won’t go along. The resulting disparity is what states often find unacceptable — not wanting to be left behind — and this case is no different.

If Utah pulls out of the NCLB program, it could pave the way for other states to more tangibly assert their own misgivings with less fear of political and economic repercussions. Combined with Connecticut’s lawsuit claiming “millions of dollars worth of illegal unfunded mandates,” the political stew over NCLB could boil over.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has stated that “If the federal government is going to impose mandates, it has to pay for them.” We agree with Blumenthal’s position on funding NCLB: The Bush administration must fully fund the program, including all accumulated expenses incurred in its implementation, or give the program the ax that most educators and state legislatures would like to see.

If the Bush administration refuses to fix NCLB, it is the states’ duty to do it on their own.