Law Commons^™

Federalizing Education By Waiver?, Derek W. Black

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the fall of 2011, the U.S. Secretary of Education told states he would use his statutory power to waive violations of the No Child Left Behind Act ("NCLB'), but only on the condition that they adopt his new education policies- policies that had already failed to move forward in Congress. States had no choice but to agree because eighty percent of their schools were faced with serious statutory sanctions. As a result, the Secretary was able to unilaterally dictate core education policies for the nation's public schools. For the first time, the content of school curriculum and the means …