dr. alger contends it's not improving outcomes. to red tape, it's bee rock was the as wasteful spending. the u.s. has increasingly centralized education policy to incur increased spending and efforts such as common quarry. it's interesting to note that other countries, high-performing countries have gone in the opposite direction d centralizing education authority and actually empowering families and fostering competition so is there a better path for the u.s. can we too embrace decentralization and competition in education? i will let vicki answer that question. we do have a major opportunity to advance education choice through innovative options like education accounts and restore private landings is a major step to reducing federal intervention and a general just limiting federal meddling in what is quintessentially state and local issues. dr. alger is a research fellow at the independent institute and a senior fellow and director of the women for school choice project of the independent wom

dr. alger explains in her book, the federal government left education alone for about a hundred years, recognizing it was the purview of states and localities. but gradually, federal restraint gave away, and by 1979 we saw the first cabinet-level agency for education established with the birth of the u.s. department of education. and today that agency houses nearly 5,000 employees, manages over 150 federal education programs and has a discretionary budget of about $70 billion. and i might add, it's really the tip of the iceberg, because we see this somewhat parasitic relationship with state education agencies as well who have to be responsive to all of these federal mandates and dictates, and as a result, have also increased their staffing over the decades as well. and so what have we gotten for this federal largess? as dr. alger contends, it's not improved educational outcomes. it's red tape, it's bureaucracy, and it's wasteful spending. the u.s. has increasingly centralized education policy t