Federal Power In Public Education

Since the inception of the U.S. government there have been many different ideas on how to handle a variety of events, laws, and decisions that affect any country. To make these decisions the people of the United States and their elected officials have had two main opinions on the role that government should play in every day affairs. The two prevalent thoughts have been either to give more power to the federal government to make decisions for the people or to leave the majority of power in the hands of the people to make decisions for themselves. This idea of a split between state and federal power was a new political concept called popular sovereignty, which was a political concept put in place in the frameworks of early American government.
For example, recently there has been a massive change in public education which has previously been an issue controlled by each state. Previously states would decide how to fund the schools, the goals of each grade, and the learning standards that every school would try to meet by taking standardized tests to evaluate faculty performance. Deciding that education should be more universal throughout America, Common Core State Standards begun to be implemented around 2010 and this was one national standard that all states are expected to meet. The use of Federal power in public education was a controversial decision for many in politics. The fear of moves to increase the scope of “power” in the federal government felt by Republicans today is reflected on a quote regarding Common Core education by Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, he states, “We won’t let the federal government take over Louisiana’s education standards” (Layton). Jindal’s quote is very reflective of how many Republicans today view having too strong of a central government, the United States is such a diverse and massive country that many believe the best interests of each state should be left up to themselves. This argument is countered by the view that having 50 different systems could lead to inequality and a lack of universal structure for the government. This type of disagreement on use of Federal power in every day policy is not a modern dilemma and has been tirelessly argued since the Constitution was written. Although this argument started much before the formation of official parties, the Federalists and Anti-Federalists were among the first to pick sides on the power of states vs. the power of a centralized government. Anti-Federalists