How Much Money is the Federal Government ‘Giving’ Your State for Federal Control of Education? You Might Be Surprised.
Questions were asked at a recent conference of education ‘de-form’ activists (those researchers not receiving Bill Gates et al funding):
- What percentage of your state’s total education revenue comes from federal sources?
- Should the federal government have power over state agencies and local districts with such small contributions?
Richard Innes of The Bluegrass Institute was intrigued with this question and developed a table and ranked each state’s federal percentage contribution to that state’s total revenue. From http://www.bipps.org/education-feeding-at-the-federal-trough/:
As you can see, Kentucky isn’t the largest “wallower” in federal education dollars, but we do grab the cash – as a proportion of our total spending – at well above average rates. A bit over 12 percent of all of Kentucky’s education revenue in the federal government’s Fiscal Year 2013 period came from federal sources.Of course, this federal money is far from “free.” In exchange for the dollars, Kentucky has been forced to agree to all sorts of federal demands. Some have been OK, others are terrible. But, all result in a dilution of state and local control of education without any really dramatic evidence that the feds know better than we do.Furthermore, this is being driven by a relatively small total contribution from the federal government in comparison to a rather massive amount of state and local education dollars. (MEW bolded)Folks in other states are starting to ask if the federal money is really worth the hassle. Even though Kentucky gets a bit more than its fair share from the feds, maybe Kentuckians also need to start asking if the real benefits from the federal cash outweigh all the costs and liabilities that this money brings to our state. Should we allow the feds so much control when they only contribute a bit more than one in ten dollars that Kentucky spends on education?
You can find your state to determine the percentage the Federal Government contributes aka redistributes to states to implement the Federal How Much Money is the Federal Government ‘Giving’ Your State for Federal Control of Education? You Might Be Surprised. – Missouri Education Watchdog:
