No Central Planner Left Behind

Chuck Muth expresses my sentiments better than I ever could:
“For all its purported virtues, the Bush/Kennedy ‘No Child Left Behind’ law is perhaps the biggest threat to state sovereignty this side of the Rio Bravo today. The federal NCLB law tells states how they MUST run their re-education camps…er, public schools…or else.
Up ’til now that “or else” has been a threatened cut-off of federal funds to states who refuse to ‘get with the program.’ But now that Utah has gone on record as telling Uncle Sam to take his money and shove it, the feds are getting significantly more cranky. In fact, Nina Rees from the Education Department announced at a Cato Institute forum on Tuesday that, ‘We’re going to take a hard line against states that blatantly violate the law.’
So when the carrot doesn’t work, the feds are more than happy to whip out the ol’ stick to compel state compliance with the diktats of the omnipotent federal government. 10th Amendment supporters should be outraged. More states should follow Utah’s lead. Congress should repeal NCLB. And the federal Department of Education ought to be eliminated, just as Republicans proposed back in 1994…BEFORE they actually became the party of power.”