A Proposal for a Collaborative Approach to a Federal Right to Education: Building on No Child Left Behind and a New Era for Federal Involvement in Education

Abstract

No Child Left Behind represents the high water mark for federal involvement in education and this enhanced federal role appears unlikely to abate in the coming years, particularly given longstanding educational conundrums, such as the achievement gap and disparities in educational opportunities between disadvantaged students and others. This Article concurs with scholars who have argued that a federal right to education should be recognized, while it eschews the private right of action against state governments advanced by most scholars who support such a right. It proposes a new collaborative enforcement mechanism for enforcing a federal right to education, modeled after the enforcement mechanisms in several international human rights treaties that recognize a right to education. These treaties incorporate a non-punitive enforcement mechanism, which authorizes an oversight committee to monitor compliance and progress, offer recommendations for improvement and guide states to technical assistance. The Article considers the weaknesses and strengths of this approach.