The Federal Government’s Role in Education Needs to Change
A public choice examination of the problems facing public education
It was in a campaign advertisement released during his 2016 campaign that then-candidate Donald Trump boldly proclaimed, “We cannot have the bureaucrats in Washington telling you how to manage your child’s education…Common Core is a total disaster. We can’t let it continue.”
Trump, despite the vociferous appeal to a surging populist movement that led to his election as president, was merely promising education reforms that his predecessors had also guaranteed. As a presidential candidate from Illinois, Barack Obama promised significant education reforms with a $10 billion pledge to early childhood education.Before Obama’s two terms in office, George W. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind Act” funneled $12 billion to support young students in underprivileged communities.
These three presidents, although different in many ways, voiced similar promises that the government, under their guidance, could solve national education issues. This is nothing out of the ordinary. The government’s role in funding, administering, and overseeing public primary and secondary education, although constantly shifting, has steadily increased over the past half-century.
