Quickies: Federal Educational Coercion

     The indefatigable Sara Noble writes about the heavy hand of Washington descending upon New York public schools:

There are 124 public school districts on Long Island, and out of 101 reporting in, 64,785 of 148,564 children in grades 3-8 opted out of the state English Language Arts test.

     That’s 43.6% of the students so far on Long Island alone.

     Federal officials are looking to discredited test-or-punish schemes as a solution instead of listening to parents and educators. For more details, click here.

     The federal government is mulling over different responses to districts with large numbers of students opting out. Withholding funds is high on the list, regardless of how much it hurts the children or if it is even a legitimate use of government power.

     Another threat being bandied about is forcefully nationalizing the testing.

     With federal money inevitably come federal controls. The money quickly becomes “indispensable” to the states and districts that accept it. The thought of losing it is enough to frighten them out of their undies. Thus, even though Washington has no Constitutitonal role in education whatsoever, by “benevolently” disbursing “educational funding” to the states, it’s become able to bend state education departments and their officials to federal dictates.

     Federal funding that transgresses the bounds on federal power, as enumerated in Article I, Section 8, is itself a violation of the Constitution. But don’t expect shortsighted, perennially money-hungry state educrats to understand that. They’re simply not that smart.