Posted on 02/17/2010 6:10:42 AM PST by geniusbyosmosis
FUNK: GIBBONS SHOULD EXPLAIN WHERE CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY EXISTS FOR FEDS TO “BE IN CHARGE OF EDUCATION”
ALTOONA – David Funk, a Republican candidate for Congress in Iowa’s Third District, today called on one of his primary opponents to clarify comments stating the federal government has the constitutional authority to control local schools.
In an interview with the political blog Caffeinated Thoughts, Jim Gibbons of Perry said, “It’s fine for me where the Constitution says that the federal government should be in charge of education. Now, I understand testing, benchmarks and standards. But, a lot of that can be accomplished at the state level. … It appears we’ve got some sort of a brain drain going on but those things mostly have to be attacked at the state level and at the local level. Bigger is not necessarily better.”
Funk, a retired military and Northwest Airlines pilot, said he would “like to know what constitution Jim Gibbons is looking at when he says that.”
“Not only is he wrong about the U.S. Constitution, but he’s drastically out of step with Republicans and, for that matter, most Iowans about the federal role in education.
We’ve long recognized that local districts should control education. States have a legitimate role in the process, but the federal government has clearly overstepped its bounds by trying to dictate standards from Washington, D.C.,” Funk said. “It’s troubling that we have a candidate in this primary who is more aligned with the education philosophy of Leonard Boswell and Nancy Pelosi than with common-sense Iowans.”
Funk expressed concerned that Gibbons’ comments reflect “a sense of confusion” about the issue. Funk said his core philosophy on education is clear.
“The federal government has no business sticking its nose in the local classroom – and we don’t need anyone in Congress who thinks it has the authority to do so. This issue is managed best at the local level by local school boards. School choice and home schooling should be available to all of our citizens. With the reintroduction of competition, we can fix our broken public school system,” he said.
Read at http://www.funkforcongress.com/news/gibbons-claims-constitution-gives-federal-governance-over-education.html
The Constitution is the last roadblock to Communism.
Education is interstate COMMERCE as well?
Ha. You got me. I guess Congress does consider everything in this country to be interstate commerce. Easy fall back when you’re acting unconstitutional.
the salt shakers in the schools
Let the bastards that want to subvert the Constitution think about that.
Live free, or die.
There was a tactic I read about in “Radicals for Capitalism,” whereby libertarians would stymie libs and complacent conservatives by naively questioning the commonplace as if it were outlandish. “Public education? What’s that? Can you recommend any books to read on the subject?”
Still waiting to hear where in the Constitution it gives Federal Authority over Education......... Yeah...... it’s not there. The authority goes to the local governments to govern education who can offer public education if they see fit. That’s not about libertarianism either, that’s about state’s rights and federal intrusion.
And which once again means that the Supreme Court indulges in arbitrary rationalizations, under guise of the "Law," with no more wisdom, background, or experience, than any of we the citizens.
Historically for most of the Republic's duration the federal government had nothing to do with education. And of course we prospered accordingly.
Thus it is up to us to determine how we want to play it; through a centralized federal government that feeds us, as its distant untouchable officials see fit; or through our own local prerogatives. The crux of Left versus Right.
Johnny Suntrade
Well said.
FYI- From wikpedia
The United States Department of Education, also referred to as ED or the ED for (the) Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. Created by the Department of Education Organization Act (Public Law 96-88), it was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on October 17, 1979 and began operating on May 16, 1980.
The Department of Education Organization Act divided the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare into the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services. The Department of Education is administered by the United States Secretary of Education.
Mission of DE (Success or Failure?)
http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/role.html
Despite the growth of the Federal role in education, the Department never strayed far from what would become its official mission: to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.
The Department carries out its mission in two major ways. First, the Secretary and the Department play a leadership role in the ongoing national dialogue over how to improve the results of our education system for all students. This involves such activities as raising national and community awareness of the education challenges confronting the Nation, disseminating the latest discoveries on what works in teaching and learning, and helping communities work out solutions to difficult educational issues.
Second, the Department pursues its twin goals of access and excellence through the administration of programs that cover every area of education and range from preschool education through postdoctoral research. For more information on the Department’s programs see the President’s FY 2011 Budget Request for Education.
Again....there is nothing in the Constitution allocating the powers of education to the Federal gov’t. Did I stutter? There are increasingly many out there who even find the Department of Education to be an unconstitutional department that should be immediately defunded.
Thanks though for pointing out it’s another screw up from the Carter admin....not in the least bit surprising.
http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/role.html
The original Department of Education was created in 1867 to collect information on schools and teaching that would help the States establish effective school systems. While the agency's name and location within the Executive Branch have changed over the past 130 years, this early emphasis on getting information on what works in education to teachers and education policymakers continues down to the present day.
The passage of the Second Morrill Act in 1890 gave the then-named Office of Education responsibility for administering support for the original system of land-grant colleges and universities. Vocational education became the next major area of Federal aid to schools, with the 1917 Smith-Hughes Act and the 1946 George-Barden Act focusing on agricultural, industrial, and home economics training for high school students.
World War II led to a significant expansion of Federal support for education. The Lanham Act in 1941 and the Impact Aid laws of 1950 eased the burden on communities affected by the presence of military and other Federal installations by making payments to school districts. And in 1944, the “GI Bill” authorized postsecondary education assistance that would ultimately send nearly 8 million World War II veterans to college.
The Cold War stimulated the first example of comprehensive Federal education legislation, when in 1958 Congress passed the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) in response to the Soviet launch of Sputnik. To help ensure that highly trained individuals would be available to help America compete with the Soviet Union in scientific and technical fields, the NDEA included support for loans to college students, the improvement of science, mathematics, and foreign language instruction in elementary and secondary schools, graduate fellowships, foreign language and area studies, and vocational-technical training.
The anti-poverty and civil rights laws of the 1960s and 1970s brought about a dramatic emergence of the Department's equal access mission. The passage of laws such as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which prohibited discrimination based on race, sex, and disability, respectively made civil rights enforcement a fundamental and long-lasting focus of the Department of Education. In 1965, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act launched a comprehensive set of programs, including the Title I program of Federal aid to disadvantaged children to address the problems of poor urban and rural areas. And in that same year, the Higher Education Act authorized assistance for postsecondary education, including financial aid programs for needy college students.
In 1980, Congress established the Department of Education as a Cabinet level agency. Today, ED operates programs that touch on every area and level of education. The Department's elementary and secondary programs annually serve nearly 14,000 school districts and some 56 million students attending roughly 99,000 public schools and 34,000 private schools. Department programs also provide grant, loan, and work-study assistance to more than 14 million postsecondary students.
Agreed that at first, it being a research entity meant to give the states information and with no actual power over them is fine.
But what it is today is unconstitutional. While you note in your first reply it was signed into law as a government agency and given cabinet level recognition - this does not make it constitutional.
It all comes back to this - it is not in the constitution, even if some morons in the court would say otherwise bc of the general welfare clause.
"Aha! Nobody expects the Interstate Commerce Commission!"
I wonder if I still have my old Reagan era "Kill a Commie for Mommy" t-shirt.
That means the Federal contribution to elementary and secondary education is a about 10.5 percent, which includes funds not only from the Department of Education (ED) but also from other Federal agencies, such as the Department of Health and Human Services’ Head Start program and the Department of Agriculture’s School Lunch program.
If they can stop you from growing your own food in the backyard because of the “Interstate commerce clause” I guess they can do anything.
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