According to the Constitution who has specific powers regarding public education?

Question

Now, please read this and other items regarding the question before blurting out some tripe. I am looking for an answer regarding the delineation of the rights of the people, the states and the federal government as it concerns education.

http://www.civicsandpolitics.com/tenth.html

There are many sources for information,
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/tenth&elev.htm
http://www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/html/amdt10toc_user.html

my position and point is, we have a runaway Congress with a lust for power, the 10th Amendment has all but been ignored since FDR and so much of what the Fed does today and what you expect are really the responsibility of the States and the People, not the Fed.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

Public education is not granted to the US nor prohibited to the states and as such, the Fed should stay out of it.

Answer 1

I've made this point myself. Education cannot possibly have any jurisdiction under the Constitution, not even the broadest interpretation of the Interstate commerce clause, which is what allows most federal meddling in issues they have no business in.

While we're at it, lets throw Social Security into the mix. Where's it's consitutitional authorization. Medicare?

I'd really like to see some of these issues visited by a conservative supreme court.

Answer 2

My take? The people, the states.

The more the feds are involved the lower the bar for education is set, the higher the influence on our children they take.

Makes the public the losers all around.

The conveyor belt education forced upon the nation is counter to the well-being of this nation.

Answer 3

The People. America was never Socialist, or even Liberal in basis. We were born with the rights of the People first at hand, and mind. The Constitution never at any time said the people of our country must accept the education the government provides. Home school is legal, and for those who are able to use that right, for their children should.
I have noticed in my son's school, a kind of Communism, in the way they teach him, and his classmates. They threaten him as well. If you don't do as you are told, miss any homework (regardless if he was ill with fever), you cannot attend a class play, but instead sit in another teachers classroom, ignored, and out of your bonds. Meaning, although he is a 4th grader, they may sit him in a 3rd grade class, knowing no child there, and make him color pictures, like a kindergartner. He is punished for having a flu. I called the principal about this, and she passed it off, like I was crazy for questioning the schools tactics. The children, we need to save them from tyranny, injustice, and especially political correctness. It does NO good for anyone, when a school is in charge more than a child's parent.

Added later, after reading others' answers:
Parents don't have the proper time to educate their children anymore, duing to the fact they must work so hard, and for so many hours, upon hours. No matter that it is the right of the American citizen. Wages are too low for the average citizen, so they must work a lot, and be away from their children, that when they can retire home, they're so exhausted, they just want to relax, take a load off, and are usually unable to help their child with homework. There is something wrong with this.

Answer 4

Well I have to agree with you. The states keep loosing their rights.

You know regarding education, the No Child Left Behind really seems like a good idea. It also looks great on paper but what about the classrooms that move at the pace of the slowest learning child. It's unfair to other students that are smarter. (not everyone is book smart and children learn in different way) I've heard teachers complain about it and I think I must agree with them.

Another thing about our public schools is they tend to be geared towards little girls. Boys are very active and hands on. We force them to sit in their seats till lunch break since lots of schools now skip recess. I think a revamp of our schools is needed.

Well, my children will go to private school or I will home school. The public schools aren't that great where I live. Actually, lot's of graduates mock it. But I'll still pay my taxes for the other families that send there kids there....oh, and the illegals kids too

Answer 5

Education clearly for years was a power taken only by the state and local government. I do believe that the state and locals still need to be the major force in education but when it comes to ensuring the good of the nation like promoting science and math to make sure we can compete internationally I see a need for the feds to be involved.

Answer 6

I agree that the Federal goverment has no buisness in the education of our children. Public education should belong to the districts only!!!! Who better to determine a childs education,but thier parents. The trouble is......Not many parents care who teaches.Or what they learn anymore. So the Federal Goverment created the Dept. Of Education. What they(liberals) do is dictate what will be taught,and dangle money to the districts to get them to do it. Sad but true..... Have you ever heard of."The dumbing down of America." All that you said in your question. Most kids today have no idea of what your saying.Because they are simply not taught about how are goverment works..

Answer 7

If the public education is not in the Fed's jurisdiction, you need to tell GWB this and tell him that his failed policies of "No Child left behind" and standardized mediocre tests for the kids is completely invalid and unconstitutional. Wow, surprise surprise, yet another Bush failure of a policy that is unconstitutional, who would have thunk it?

BTW, public schools are local. And, they are funded by federal governments that give the money to the states who give the money to the school districts. If it was evenly distributed like it should be, then Schools in Los Angeles Unified School district would be equal with the public schools in Beverly Hills. They aren't and they aren't funded equally. BTW, No Child Left Behind is a disaster and it has yet to be funded in many districts that comply with it's rules and test scores/evaluations. It's a failure and now many schools are opting out because the teachers are forced to teach children to learn how to pass a test. This isn't education, it's route memorization. It's a joke. Whatever happened to teaching critical thinking? Oh yeah, you cons wouldn't want that would you.

Answer 8

Except for stuff like No Child Left Behind, they do. For the most part education is local.

Now tell ME where in the Constitution it says Government should work to spread Christianity.

Answer 9

Of course! How much more efficient would it be if the states ran their schools, and actually had to compete to keep their standards up. With the government doing it, we get bloat, no one stands out, and it just becomes really really wasteful.

Answer 10

I have to honestly say I'm not sure on this one.. I do know one thing though.. our current education system is based on a military style camp and is actually designed in a way to quickly prepare men for war.