GOP legislators in the House approve bills lessening federal reach into schools
Republican lawmakers on a House committee, after hours of pointed debate with their Democratic counterparts, approved two bills Tuesday that would shrink the federal government’s involvement in education.
“I would get the federal government completely out of the education business if I could,” said Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), hours before the straight party-line votes. “But this goes in the right direction.”
Most observers consider it unlikely that Congress will pass a new education law, which it has been trying to do for five years, until after the November election. A Senate committee approved bipartisan legislation last year, but that bill has yet to come to the floor.
One of the most controversial provisions of the Republican bills would gut the current requirement, known as “maintenance of effort,” which says states must maintain a certain level of education funding in order to receive federal dollars to help educate low-income children.
full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/gop-legislators-in-the-house-approve-bills-lessening-federal-reach-into-schools/2012/02/28/gIQASEz6gR_story.html
Gee, I wonder how many jobs this bill is going to create. Oh yeah, did you hear that Michelle Obama wanted to take away your kids' turkey sandwiches and replace them with agribusiness-manufactured, factory-farmed chicken nuggets? The nation can't have the Federal Food Bureau inspecting the children's lunch bags! 
(source for that sandwich/chicken nugget story: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002345094)
And I wonder what would happen if the federal gov't left public education strictly to the states. Texas would go full speed ahead with teaching creationism and hyper-patriotic American history. Other Bible belt states would do nothing about school districts who bend over to the evangelicals in the community and teach creationism and censor sex education. There'd be this divide of school districts that actually educate vs. districts that are pretty much another arm of the local fundamentalist church or Tea Party. And then Republicans still are stumped why the colleges need to import international students to fill science and engineering classes.