The principle of local autonomy: a problem is best solved by the people who live closest to it. Although there is a popular conviction that the federal government is out of touch with its citizens, the authority of the local community is also under siege. Politicians have opened fronts at the national and school district level.
Presidential candidates, such as Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, are campaigning to give state governments the power to regulate curriculum and parents the right to oversee it, up-ending the traditional authority granted to school boards and school personnel. Their bottom line is decentralization of federal government, but centralization in the control of the state. A suspicious person would say it’s because the feds oppose their policies, while many states are likely to adopt them. Not so much a principle as a strategy.
In a Town Hall meeting in Manchester, NH (September 7, 2023) Republican candidate Nikki Haley declared,
Let’s take away the power of the federal government, reduce that size of the Department of Education and empower the parents on the ground, empower the people in those states. That way, you’re getting it closer to the kids. More money is actually going to teaching, and then you can control what’s being said and taught to your child in the classroom.
When Haley said “the money is going to teaching,” she implied that local autonomy belonged to local schools. But with one hand she doled out power to schools and with the other she handed it over to the disgruntled parents of school children.
Every parent, regardless of their education, regardless of where they’re from, knows what’s best for their child. No parent should ever wonder what’s being said or taught to their child in the classroom. We need full transparency in the classroom always.
“Full transparency” means teachers posting their lesson plans online; schools submitting all books in the classroom and school library for parental review; school principals giving parents access to the curriculum development process. Presumably Haley meant that anything a critical number of parents object to could be removed from the curriculum. This kind of transparency is implied by the “Parents’ Bill of Rights” in Missouri–“(3) The right to access and view school curricula, guest lecturer materials, and staff training manuals in a timely manner and in an easily accessible format;” This law (HB 627) has not passed scrutiny of the legislature at this writing.
The Parents’ Bill of Rights would make sense if it originated at the local level. It should be negotiated in good faith between the schools and the parents of students. Local autonomy insists that local decisions should not originate with the state. Parents’ rights should not be imposed from the top, but percolated from the bottom. A problem is best solved by the people who live closest to it.
Just as the principle of local autonomy should protect citizens from federal intervention, it should protect them from meddling of the state government. In Missouri, for example, some politicians want the state to override local discretion for the teaching of “critical race theory,” “gender diversity,” and the right of parental review, because local communities are not always hospitable to their agenda. Again, local autonomy is rejected, but for political motives.
State oversight of the schools is the prerogative of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. It should set standards for teaching and learning, provide specialized resources, advocate for the schools and supplement their professional and financial resources.
For example, in Missouri, there is a critical need for new teachers to replace a mass retirement of baby boomer teachers. Many rural schools lack the resources to attract the best young teachers, who could bring fresh ideas and energy to aging faculty and administration. The state could be a consultant and a financial support (mini-grants) to attract graduating teachers from neighboring states, as well as local graduates. Incentives might include provisions for housing, creating teams or communities within the schools, and providing well-trained faculty mentors. Young teachers might be attracted to schools with a supportive structure, as much as they would higher salaries. The ideas and funding to implement such programs could come from the state level: the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
These complex challenges require coordinated solutions. The state is uniquely positioned to bring the participants together and provide both professional expertise and financial incentives to implement the solutions. The federal government is too remote and many school districts under-resourced to deal with these problems of school administration. But, to avoid political intervention, the education professionals should do the coordination.
Local autonomy is a much-abused principle in the realm of politics, unless state institutions are empowered to support, not over-regulate, the public schools. Politicians claim they believe in local autonomy, but, in practice, they want to use the schools to promote their agenda. Especially in election years, the local schools and state education departments should demand that the politicians mind their own business.