Convention of States Action is working toward calling an Article V Convention to propose amendments to the US Constitution. One such amendment is to reduce the size, scope and jurisdiction of the federal government.
What might that look like? The Maryland State Board of Education recently demonstrated their ability to nimbly step in and solve an issue that posed a threat to the community and its students. And they did it without permission or direction from the federal Department of Education.
Within a week of the arrest of a local high school student who was charged with first degree murder, the State Board of Education corrected a flaw in their Confidentiality of Information policy regarding transfer students.
Here's What Happened
October 15, 2024 – A 17-year-old student was arrested on school grounds in connection with a murder that took place away from the school. At the time of his arrest, he had a gun in his backpack.
Date unknown – officials discovered the student, who had transferred from a different county’s school system, was under electronic surveillance – wearing an ankle bracelet – for attempted murder in his previous county. According to the Director of Communications and Engagement for the receiving County Public Schools System,
“We did not receive any official disclosure,”
October 21, 2024 – Three county legislators wrote a joint letter to the State Superintendent of Schools asking her
“…to update State Board of Education regulations to require that each of Maryland’s 24 public school jurisdictions forward all relevant criminal report records when students transfer, or if they have transferred within the past year and have been charged with a criminal offense.”
These legislators could have put the change through the normal legislative process. But they recognized it could get done faster by working directly with the School Board.
October 22, 2024 – At a meeting of the State Board of Education, the requested policy change was introduced and was passed. The necessary change was a minor correction eliminating the word “may” (making inclusion of the criminal records optional) and replacing it with “shall” (making inclusion of the criminal records mandatory).
In one fell swoop, the needed change was requested, approved and implemented the same day. No need for committee hearings or delays of any kind. The change was passed as an emergency regulation.
“Given the possible seriousness of the reportable offenses, the amendment to the regulation is being presented as an emergency regulation.”
Problem solved.
Is it likely an issue such as this would have been referred to the Federal Department of Education?
Probably not.
So why use this story as an example? Well, first to show how efficiently state level government can work for the community. But also, to raise the question of why we need a federal level agency for everything. The current federal Department of Education was a “gift” from President Jimmy Carter in 1979. The department’s mission is to encourage educational excellence by ensuring equality for everyone in terms of accessing education.
“The primary functions of the ED are to coordinate and administer policies that have been established for assistance to education, data collection on US schools and to enforce specific laws related to federal education including matters such as civil rights and privacy.”
For 2025, the President has requested a budget allowance of $82.4 Billion to fund the Department of Education. Personal experience and teacher/administrator feedback indicate an inordinate amount of time is required to comply with federal policies and data collection. By eliminating the Federal Department of Education, that money could be put to much better use working with teachers and students to improve the quality of education in our schools.
This reminds me of a classic movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Jimmy Stewart applied common sense to solving the problem of government overspending. Faced with a budget shortfall, he sat down with his colleagues and got them involved in cutting unnecessary spending. We can do that in three easy steps:
- Get acquainted with all the regulatory agencies we have in Washington. DC.
- Research what they do and how effective they are in supporting the needs of state level functioning.
- Determine what their budget is and find where expenses can be cut.
Taking this one step further, those who perform this audit should be every day citizens with no political ties. In all likelihood, we’d be able to save billions of dollars that we could then invest into creating a new version of government that actually is for the people.
What are some ideas you have around reducing the size, scope and jurisdiction of the federal government? You can be part of the solution by getting involved. A good place to start is Convention of States Action.
If you haven’t yet signed the petition, you can do that here
And, in case you missed it, we’re asking all Maryland residents to let us know what matters to you. We’d love it if you would complete the survey.
