The US Government has been around for
200+ years, and has been abiding by the same constitution ever since. Everyone
knows that our form of government isn't perfect, but it’s the best one we've
got, and the most successful so far. The idea of a Democratic Republic is to
get the people involved in the government; Abraham Lincoln stated in his famous
Gettysburg Address that our government is a "government of the people, for
the people, by the people", an easier to understand concept found in the second
paragraph of the United States Constitution known as "the consent of the
governed".
“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Now you may be wondering, how does the government affect education? The answer is, the Department of Education, and its sister 14 departments are affected greatly by the system of how our government operates. Let’s start at a local level.
Our government runs on a system called Federalism. Federalism is the relation between the State Governments (i.e. State of Arizona Government) and the National Federal Government stated in the US Constitution. The idea of Federalism is to balance the power between the States and the National government, so one cannot overpower the other and what not.
You may notice that every state has
a different and/or similar set of laws that their respective state
citizens must abide to. For example, Interstate speed limit on Interstate
10 (Rural) in California is 70 mph for cars, and 55 mph for trucks; Interstate
10 (Rural) in Arizona is 75 mph for both cars and trucks/heavy vehicles. This
applies to many things, like speed limit, voting age
and registration requirements, taxes, and EDUCATION.
Education funding, system, curriculum, activities, and much more are all different yet similar between all 50 states in the United States. Each state spends their money on education in different ways and on different things. I'll give you an example that may apply to you.
For example, let’s say you and Bob work
at a fast food joint. You each work 20 hours a week for $9 per hour. By one
week, you and Bob will have earned $180. Bob decides to spend half of his money
to buy groceries and for self-leisure. Bob then deposits the remaining
amount of his pay check to his savings account. You spend only about $50
for groceries and decide to deposit the rest in your bank account. You and Bob
have both earned $180, but have spent it in different manners.
Now let's replace this and apply it to education: it works just the same way.
Let's say the State of Arizona and the
State of Maine both receive X amount of funding from the
federal government each year as part of the fiscal budget of our government.
Arizona decides to spend 20% of that pay check/funding on school security in
the form of cameras, defensive facilities, officers on
campus, etc., while Maine decides to spend a whopping 40% on school
security. Arizona fuels their general support spending at around 25%,
and Maine spends roughly 15% at the same category. Surprisingly,
both Maine and Arizona injects about 25% for per-student
spending, the amount of money a state spends on each
students. Both states spend the rest for maintenance, upgrades, student support
services, and others. (All the above spending rates and percentages all
fictional, and created to give an estimate of how states spend their resources
on Education.)
As you can see, both
states received the same amount of funding, but have spent it in
different yet similar ways to each other. This is true for all 50
states, and problems arise between states about curriculum
levels, per-student funding, and many more. In addition, the national
government also have their own system of approximately how much each
state should spend in sub-categories of Education; State governments
throughout the US more or less follow this system. Additionally, states can
petition to the federal government to receive grants and merits
which (once obtained) can further increase the amount of
resources a state receives from the government, but can potentially
risk the states to having to abide by federal regulations on how to spend that
money.
Education is a rising concern for
Americans today, and our government plays a major role in it. If
people want to change something or introduce an idea, the best way is to get
involved and let your voice be heard. Otherwise, you have no right to complain
when our government does something that you do not agree with, since you didn't
put in a voice of yours to begin with.
