One of the most often used phrases by local and state politicians seems to be”We are applying for a Federal Grant”. This is often heard by people as “We are getting free money for it!”. Last time I checked the Federal government is sending our tax money back to us, and we should be grateful to get part of it back.

This reminds me of when I was younger, going to school, and living with my grandparents for “free”. It was free except for all the little conditions that I was expected to follow to keep them happy. Most were common decency, some where slightly annoying, others really grated upon my nerves. With a little more backbone, I might sucked it up and moved out. But it was free.

For decades, Washington used a similar ploy to keep the speed limit set at 55 mph. No law was passed that mandated the speed limit. No consideration was given to where it was located or what the local people thought. It was controlled by money. If you want a dime of federal money for your roads, your speed limit must be 55 mph. Sounds like “As long as you live under my roof, you will follow my rules.”

Unfortunately, no state had the backbone or was adult enough to say “Okay, I am moving out and following my own rules.” The Feds have a way of attaching strings to the money they are giving you. Or should a say “your tax dollars they are returning to you.” These strings are quite numerous in education. As a teacher, this is an area I am quite familiar with.

Many of the educational programs that are in the forefront (No Child Left Behind.& Title 9 womans sports, busing, vouchers ) are controlled throw the federal funding. The merits of these programs are not the issue. What is the federal government doing running schools in 50 different states.

For this extreme over site by the feds, they pay just 8.9% of the education bill across the country. This ranges from a high of 19.4% in Alaska to just 4.3% in New Jersey. (http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/topic/92.htmlhttp://www.taxfoundation.org/research/topic/92.html) It is time for the states to grow up, pack the bags, and move out of Uncle Sam's house (at least in education).

The first step would be to reduce the federal taxes by the amount the “spend”, including the waste in the program. This website list just some of the problems with the department of education (http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=policy_Department_of_Education ).

Whats that you say, inside the beltway will never give up this power? Read the following from your friendly wikipedea:

If at least two-thirds of the legislatures of the states so request, Congress is required to call a convention for the purpose of proposing an amendment. The requisite number of states never made such a request although two proposals have come just two states shy of the required number. There is much controversy as to how such a convention would operate, how its delegates would be chosen, the necessary vote required to propose a particular amendment, and many other lingering questions. The state legislatures have, in times past, taken advantage of the fear of the unknown by using their power to apply for a national convention in order to frighten Congress into proposing the desired amendment. For example, the movement to amend the Constitution to provide for the direct election of U.S. Senators began to see such proposals regularly pass the House of Representatives only to die in the Senate from the early 1890s onward. As time went by, more and more state legislatures adopted resolutions demanding that a convention be called, thus pressuring the Senate to finally relent and approve what later became the Seventeenth Amendment for fear that such a convention—if permitted to assemble—might stray to include issues above and beyond just the direct election of U.S. Senators.

Lets propose an amendment to limit the power of Washington to meddle in local education. Or better yet, ban them from even funding at least k-12 education. This would move the power back to the states. Most states would not even have to raise taxes, because of the money saved preparing the federal paperwork.

If we go through the state legislatures, they will see a power grab and be willing to support. (each state will then need to deal with their legislatures as they see fit). It might just be the first step towards states becoming an adult and paying their own way.