Federalism's Compromise

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the sporadic and incoherent federal approaches to education policy over the last half century to reveal a theory of policymaking constraints that elucidates the tensions between political will for equity and implementation capacity that are intrinsic to federal education policy. I then apply this theory to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). I find that consistent with my theory of policymaking constraints, a majority of states responded to the increased flexibility in ESSA by retreating from equity concerns. I then explore possible predictive factors for cross-state variation, presenting evidence that wealthy citizen satisfaction with local schools was associated with a decrease in attention to equity in state ESSA plans and that states that evaded accountability measures under No Child Left Behind continued to do so under the Every Student Succeeds Act. These results contribute to an important debate about the retreat from equity commitments under ESSA and furthermore, the theoretical framework that explains the policy zigzag in education policy since 1965.