Washington Education Policy: Making the Rules but Not Playing the Game

Rachel Sheffield / March 17, 2011

At a House hearing Tuesday morning on the burden of federal intervention into American schools, Representative Mike Kelly (R–PA) referred to the federal government as “the people that are … making the rules but have never played the game.” Witnesses included three school administrators from various states along with Heritage Director of Domestic Policy Jennifer Marshall.

Kelly noted that schools have continued to receive burdensome mandates and regulations from Washington, yet politicians are not the ones who have to deal with the consequences. As the Kelly put it, “They talk the talk, but never walk the walk.”

As Marshall testified, since the federal government got into the business of regulating schools in the 1960s, federal education programs have experienced massive increases, bringing with them increasingly complex compliance burdens and red tape for schools to handle. Instead of using resources to focus on students, schools are made to throw time, money, and manpower toward Washington’s demands. She noted: (more…)