Purr vie purview of states and localities. But gradually federal restraint gave away and by 1979, we saw the first cabinet level agency for education established with the birth of the u. S. Department of education. Today, that agency houses nearly 5,000 employees, manages over 150 federal Education Programs, and has a discretionary budget of 70 billion. I might ad its really the tip of the iceberg because we see this somewhat parasitic relationship with state education agencies as well, who have to be responsive to all of these federal mandates and dictates and as a result have also increased their staffing over the decades as well. So, what have we gotten for this federal large ess. Its red tape, bureaucracy and wasteful spending. The u. S. Has increasingly centralized education policy to increase spending through increased programs and through efforts such as common core. Its interesting, though, to note that other countries, high performing countries, have gone in the opposite direc