Education Governance Quotes
England did not follow this precept but the United States did and is the only country that did. In all others, education is controlled by the national government. However, Godwin's principle of separating education from government is not maintained in all the states of America. In many, the State government leaves much of the curriculum and the operations of the school to local school boards which have a great deal of discretion. However, in most of the Southern States, the State government dominates and controls education and relatively little is left to the school boards. In some the State chooses the allowable textbooks. In those cases, Godwin's principle is violated, but in most of the North East and Midwest and some of the far West the school boards have great autonomy and Goodwin's principle is upheld. It is fascinating that the more control a particular state exercises of the schools, the poorer the performance of the schools of that state. Goodwin had a terrific insight.
Most of the cost of elementary and secondary education in America is borne by local governments and to a lesser extent by state governments. The Federal government share, as with policing, and garbage collection, is quite small. And in education the laws of the nation limit the role that the Federal government can play in the school curriculum or other aspect of school performance.
There are a few exceptions where the teachers are allowed to share much of the policy making. When that does happen, they too have autonomy to protect. But in most school systems teachers have no power and are rarely consulted or given any voice about policies. They then have no autonomy to protect.
In the moral and cultural domain that Reed and his constituency are most interested in, school board members can influence and control much of what affects children on a day to day basis while the President cannot.
