A U.S. appeals court panel ruled Jan. 7 that Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is violating the Constitution by requiring states and school districts to spend their own funds to comply with the No Child Left Behind law.

Due to Bush’s recent veto of the FY 2008 education appropriations bill, there will be a $14.8 billion gap in funding for NCLB programs this year. That is on top of the previous cumulative gap of $56.1 billion.

The ruling is a major victory for the National Education Association and the other plaintiffs– including nine school districts and nine NEA state affiliates. They sued in U.S. District Court in Michigan in April 2005.

NEA and the other plaintiffs had argued in the NCLB law explicitly prevents the federal government from requiring states and school districts to spend their own funds to comply with the law’s mandates. The U.S. District Court threw out the suit, a decision that led to the appeal.

Education Minnesota is not among the plaintiffs, but the decision from the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals could have national implications. The appellate ruling sends the lawsuit back to the district court with orders to proceed, following the higher court’s decision.