The federal government provides only a small percentage of the funding to run public schools around the country. Most funding comes from state and local governments. Yet Washington uses the leverage that its “contribution” to the schools provides to dictate policies that really ought to be set by the states, local school boards, principals and parents.
Recently, the Obama administration announced that it will promote legislation to let Washington determine what sorts of snacks are permitted in school vending machines. It’s part of the president’s and the first lady’s high-profile fight against childhood obesity.
On one level, of course, some food rules are perfectly reasonable. Students would be healthier if vending machines were not packed with junk food, or if there were at least some limits on the times of day when such foods may be purchased.
But the new push for federal control raises the obvious question of what, if any, decisions Washington believes ought to be left to school boards, administrators and parents. Think about it: If Congress can decide whether a school vending machine must dispense potato chips or broccoli, is there any school policy that the federal government would consider to be outside its authority?
You certainly need not be a defender of unwholesome food choices to see that Washington’s quest for control over our lives has grown beyond all reason and common sense.