Education secretary calls lawsuit complaint 'red herring': "[Education Secretary Margaret] Spellings, speaking to the Atlanta Press Club, said the lawsuit 'does trouble me a little bit' and, afterward, suggested states balking at the law simply fear the results of its accountability measures.

'I just see that as a red herring,' she said of Connecticut's claim this year's federal funds will fall $41.6 million short of paying for staffing, training and tests for No Child Left Behind.

'What are they afraid of knowing, I guess, is one of the things I'd like to know.'"