April 20 (Bloomberg) -- The National Education Association and school districts in Texas, Michigan and Vermont filed suit today to force the federal government to pay more of the costs of the No Child Left Behind Law.

``If you regulate, you have to pay,'' NEA President Reg Weaver said at a press conference in Washington.

The NEA, the largest U.S. teachers union, said the federal law aimed at improving test scores is underfunded by about $27 billion, forcing school districts to divert resources or risk being shut down. Studies in Ohio and Texas estimate compliance costs of as much as $1.5 billion and $1.2 billion, respectively, NEA said.

The law, passed by Congress in December 2001 and enacted the following year, has been described by President George W. Bush as ``the cornerstone of my administration.''

The Department of Education can sanction schools if students don't make adequate progress and can require districts with unacceptable test scores to pay for tutoring and teacher education, to replace staff and to extend the school day or year. If schools fail to improve, the federal government can order them to shut down and to be run as charter schools.

School officials in 38 states say the requirements increase their costs because the federal government hasn't fully funded them, according to a 2004 study by the Washington-based Center on Education Policy.

The budget for all education programs for the poor, including No Child Left Behind, was $12.3 billion last year. The bipartisan National Governor's Association and the NEA have said the assistance is short of what is needed.

Unfunded Mandate

The governors' group voted unanimously in 2003 to label No Child Left Behind an unfunded mandate. NEA spokesman Dan Kaufman said last year the 2.7 million-member teachers organization was trying to enlist states and school districts in a lawsuit to require full federal payment for the requirements.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said on April 5 his state was preparing to sue over No Child Left Behind. The law's testing requirement costs his state $8 million more a year than the federal government is providing, which violates an unfunded mandate provision of the act as well as the ``spending clause'' under the U.S. Constitution, Blumenthal said.

Yesterday, Utah passed a bill stating that parts of the law must be ignored, the New York Times reported today. Lawmakers resisted Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings' letter to Utah Senator Orrin G. Hatch stating that the federal government may withhold education funds from the state, the Times reported, citing Utah legislators.

The suit, Pontiac School District v. Spellings, was filed today in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

To contact the reporter of this story: Cary O'Reilly in Washington at at caryoreilly@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 20, 2005 10:37 EDT