We are losing control of our schools

Education Secretary, Arne Duncan testified before the House Budget Committee that the Recovery Act provided unprecedented levels of Federal support for our schools in return for a commitment to “meaningful reform strategies”. North Carolina state and local control of our public schools is being taken by the central (federal) government’s Department of Education. While the feds provide about 20 % of the funding for schools they exercise 100% control through programs like No Child Left Behind. As is always the case the further control is removed from the community the less responsive it is to the needs and desires of the people. As we have seen with NCLB the goals and objectives are good but obtaining changes that would make the program better and more effective are almost impossible. The founders of our nation provided in the constitution that some responsibilities belong to the states unless they are specifically given to the federal government. Education is one of those responsibilities but the federal government is slowly usurping the states rights under the U.S. Constitution. The ED department administers an annual budget of $68.6 billion for education.

The current year federal stimulus pumps another $100 billion into public schools, universities and early childhood education and brings the annual total to $168 billion. This is a move by the central government to increase their control of the states educational rights and responsibilities. To gain this control the central government is borrowing and printing money at a destructive rate that will make our children slaves to the lenders. This can only be stopped by the citizens of the states taking action at every opportunity to stop this un-constitution seizing of power.