PUBLIC SCHOOLS. who's really in charge?

In the 1920's America's public schools were chiefly a local responsibility. Some 162,800 local school districts were governed by locally elected lay people who raised the bulk of the revenue, enjoyed considerable autonomy and were sensitive to local pressures. These days, as a consequence of state imposed consolidation, there are only 13,598 school districts and local autonomy, control and sensitivity to parental pressure have shrunk dramatically. 

At the same time school funding has shifted pretty strongly from the local to the state level — although, even now, the proportion varies from state to state. Vermont provides the most. That's 87% of the funding. Utah provides the smallest state share: 58%. The rest of the funding costs fall mostly on local school districts. Although the federal government does provide about 8%. 

Why does this matter? Remember te old adage: "He who pays the piper calls the tune?" Since state funding of schools predominates, key decisions are commonly made at the state level. Local authorities are seldom even consulted. They just are told what to do. And often required to pick up some, sometimes all, of the tab. (State law-makers are fond enact one or another "benefit," but imposing the costs of accomplishing it on local school boards.)

There was a significant change beginning around the time the administration of George W. Bush, the self-styled "Education President." At this time frame the federal government increased federal spending on education which consequently diminished state and parental power. But as time when on enthusiasm for public education as a political cause diminished and so did this extra federal funding. In time the state's power of purse once again predominated. But through all of these occilations parents found themselves further and further removed from exercising meaningful influence.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Another source of parental disempowerment has been the ever decreasing number of schools and concomitant  increase in the number of students per school. In 1920 there were some 190,000 public schools k-12, with an average 100 students per school. By 2020 there were only 131,000 public schools serving an average of 528 students per school. About five times more students per school than in1920.  

As the size of the school student populations grew, individual student differences became less and less important. The chances of a principal even knowing the name of every student, much less anything about them, shrank to nearly zero. School authorities knowledge of individual parental concerns also shrank to little or nothing unless the parents were local power holders or acted truly bizarre.