Stimulus Plan May Boost Governors' Clout

This fro Ed Week:

Authority over federal aid could grow

in short term in shift of historic pattern

Along with an infusion of money for schools, the economic-stimulus package working its way through Congress would give governors unprecedented control over how federal K-12 dollars are spent, adding to a long-standing debate over who should control federal education aid.

Congress historically has given state education officials—chief state school officers or state boards of education—authority to allocate such money using tightly controlled federal formulas.

But governors have long argued that they have the constitutional authority to ensure that their states properly oversee public education, and so should have a significant say in how federal education aid is spent. The stimulus legislation—which the Senate was still amending last week—would give them that power, if only temporarily...