Federalism
Federalism is a government model in which two levels of government govern a particular geographical region. The United States is an example of a country that accommodates the idea of federalism. The concept of federalism is manifested in article IV of the United States of America’s federal constitution, which provides that the United States shall accord each state a republican status and shall protect all of them from external aggression, among other things. Accordingly, the two levels of governments, the federal government, and states perform different functions that the constitution allocates to each but under the principle of consultation. Whereas the federal government deals with matters of national concern, state governments have jurisdiction over local issues. Given the above, this essay evaluates the interplay between the two government levels concerning testing and teacher accountability standards from No Child Left Behind and federal requirements that states adopt Common Core curriculum standards or risk losing federal funding.
Testing and teacher accountability standards from no child left behind.
The No Child Left behind Act was a republican bill introduced in Congress to breathe life into the education reforms that President George Bush advocated for in 2001 before he left office. The Act fundamentally increases the federal government’s involvement in ensuring quality education for all school-going children within the boundaries of the United States of America. However, the states are likely to reject the proposals that the Act promotes and advocate for due to various reasons. For instance, states have their distinct policy design to ensure standards that are different from what the federal government intends. Moreover, the states are not well acquainted with how to fund the new mandate, whether the states will need to report the test results, and mechanisms to hold schools accountable.
Whereas the Tenth Amendment does not grant any government level the power over public education, states have traditionally assumed the responsibility of overseeing public education within their boundaries. Moreover, Congress has also passed three legislation prohibiting the federal government’s involvement in public education issues, mostly curriculum, and assessment. These legislations include the General Education Provisions Act, the Department of Education Organization Act, and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Importantly, states are bound to reject the proposal due to a lack of sufficient infrastructure, according to the report by the center on Education Policy. The said report also suggests that states lack technical support from the department of education, coupled with insufficient funding from the federal government to sustain the program. Furthermore, states are likely to argue that they are already bound by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which requires them to ensure all children in their jurisdiction can access education services; thus, the No Child Left behind Act is a redundancy.
Federal requirements that states adopt Common Core curriculum standards or risk losing federal funding
States might lose federal funding if they reject the core curriculum standards. However, the federal government can only enforce its spending powers to compel states to adhere to federal policies in areas where the federal government lacks direct control. Besides, such coercion, apart from being a direct regulation, also amounts to a contravention of the constitution’s provisions are risk being declared unconstitutional by courts. According to the article, I section 8 of the federal constitution; Congress shall have the powers to impose and collect taxes to provide for the general welfare of the United States, among other things. Consequently, because education falls under the general welfare of any state, the concerned states within the United States of America must adopt the common core to qualify for funding from the federal government. The rationale behind the federal government implementation of the above policy was to ensure the provision of quality education to all children across the United States regardless of their domicile state.
Additionally, the policy attempted to achieve a uniform curriculum for all schools and ensure schools are accountable for their students’ academic progress. However, even though they knew they would lose federal funding for failure to adopt and implement the policy, some states chose to forego such funding to retain the privilege of individuality that the Tenth Amendment grants. Since the federal government only funds states that adhere to the federal education policy, most states that fail to adopt the above policy have suffered acute financial shortages to run the learning institutions at both primary and secondary levels.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this essay has evaluated the interplay between the federal government and states government according to the federal constitution’s provision. Accordingly, the essay has evaluated federalism’s concept in correlation to the federal requirements that states adopt Common Core curriculum standards or risk losing federal funding and Testing and teacher accountability standards from No Child Left Behind. Given the above, the easy has discussed the above concepts and the provisions of the constitution that donate the authority for the federal government to refuse funding to states that fail to align their education policies to the federal government’s guidelines.