President Obama recently announced his decision to, in the words of an Associated Press report, "free 10 states from the strict and sweeping requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act" by issuing waivers to them. This is a fundamentally flawed decision. This is not a defense of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Education is properly a local and state issue. Federal intervention serves only to increase expenses, stifle creativity, thwart flexibility, create needless bureaucracies, and centralize more power in Washington. What is objectionable about Obama's waivers is not that he is neutering NCLB, but how and why he is doing it. There are three key problems here: 1. Obama vs. freedom in education Although the AP says the president is "free[ing]" states from the burden of complying with NCLB, one wonders how "free" these states will be. In exchange for receiving a waiver, states had to make certain "promises." What those promises were, and how strong the strings attached to them will be, we don't yet know,....
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