FEDERAL-CONTROL OVER EDUCATION - CRISIS, DECEPTION, AND INSTITUTIONALCHANGE

This paper analyzes the emergence of two key statutes which first esta blished comprehensive federal controls over education in the United St ates, the National Defense Education Act of 1958 and the Elementary an d Secondary Education Act of 1965. The U.S. experience in establishing federal control over education is examined against a model of institu tional change grounded in the economics of political transaction-cost manipulation. Detailed examination of relevant congressional documents shows the roles of real and feigned crisis and of deliberate deceptio n in effecting acceptance of federal control over education.