News Release

July 7, 2004

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New report cites failures of federal education policy
Analysis shows education should be returned to state, local and parental control

WASHINGTON -- In a study released today, "A Lesson in Waste: Where Does All the Federal Education Money Go?" Neal McCluskey, a Cato education policy analyst, argues that giving the federal government control over education dollars has produced no discernable academic gains. Providing a detailed analysis of the explosive growth of federal education intervention, McCluskey makes the case that education policy should be returned to the states.

"Despite the more than quadrupling of federal spending on education and the near tripling of real per pupil expenditures between 1965 and 2003, most measures of student achievement have remained flat," McCluskey says. "Math and reading scores have stagnated, graduation rates have flatlined, and researchers have shown numerous billion-dollar federal programs to be failures."

Further, McCluskey questions the constitutionality of the federal government's involvement in education. "There is the traditional view that no federal [education] policy is legitimate because the Constitution gives the federal government no authority over education," he says.

What does the country have to show for the federal government's intervention in education? "Stagnant academic achievement, large bills, and schools that are struggling as much today as they were at the beginning of Johnson's Great Society. Given that failure, federal meddling in education should end immediately, and control should be returned to parents and states."

Policy Analysis no. 518: