States Lack Capacity for Reform

By Michael D. Usdan and Arthur D. Sheekey

The country is in the throes of ideological polarization about the role and influence of the federal government in every policy realm. This debate, which is a point of contention in the 2012 presidential race, concerns every major public-policy realm, be it business and finance regulation, health care, energy, social services, or education.

One long-neglected issue that is finally receiving the attention it merits relates to the capacity of the states to assume responsibility for such complex economic and political matters if one assumes, as we do, that the influence of the federal government may well begin to wane at least for the immediate future.

This issue is particularly salient in education, where state education agencies will be expected to pick up the leadership mantle on issues pertaining to the common-core standards, assessments, and teacher evaluation, to name a few examples. In essence, most state education departments remain almost wholly owned federal subsidiaries, with well over half their budgets emanating from federal funds. Indeed, the states historically have always underfunded their education agencies. The capacity of most state education agencies has been further diluted because of recent severe budget and staffing cuts, which have further compromised their ability to provide the requisite leadership in...