Illustration of Federal Budget

[CountArach]

Of course states should be competitive. Competition in general helps everyone and is what our entire system is built on.

I can't agree with that, however, what are they competing for?

States know how to govern themselves better than the Federal government anyway, so with less federal intervention and bureaucracy people would probably end up paying a lot less.

If they knew how to govern themselves they wouldn't need this money in the first place.

No, because that is not how the American government is supposed to work. Each part has its job and to have every part pitching in on the same job destabilizes the checks and balances that the Constitution put in place.

The American system of government isn't supposed to work this way but realistically the States cannot afford to run everything they need. With the expansion of social services, education and healthcare a constitutional system built on an 18th/19th Century idea of absolute state rights is just not capable of working.

The number of citizens of a State is far inferior to that of the whole country.

And...? Yes it costs less, but you have a decreased ability to pool resources.

If one state is paying for another states education there will be conflict when eventually one state will disagree with how the other decides to use the money it receives (such as not teaching evolution)

Two things:
1) What is the problem with that? State X (Who has a problem with State Y) has no ability to actually do anything about it... All they can do is have their two Senators vote against the funding. And that is assuming that the citizenry of State X are unhappy with continuing to fund State Y.
2) How can you say State X is paying for State Y's education when the entirety of the nation is paying for State Y's education, including the citizens of State Y? State X only has a limited stake in the education budget of State Y.

That is the whole point of having the States run their own business. Just like the free market, competition creates a better situation for the consumer (in this case all US citizens) And no, families with multiple children will most certainly take into account which States have the best education and will most defiantely move if the State next to them has a very high test score average compared with the one they are living in right now. You underestimate the love of a parent and their want for the child to have the best.

You overestimate a parent's willingness to leave their entire life behind, such as their job, their family and their friends. Also if your idea is true then why is it not more for mass migrations to one state or another? Why do large families persist to live in States which have low test scores?

Further, there is no underlying effort to seek out the reasons for why State's continue to have low test scores.

People and families will move out to places that can afford running lots of services or it could increase taxes. To be honest, there is no state that cannot afford proper education if it does not squander its money on multiple other services which are less important.

Why should citizens have to forgo other essential services in order to pay for their education?

Who said that every state is equal? And technically, wouldn't the richest citizens pay for private schooling instead of public anyway?

So you are claiming that some State's are unequal? I'm not really sure the Constitution is designed that way. In fact... it isn't!

And yes many rich citizens do pay for private schooling, but what does that have to do with what I stated at all?

Take a look at the national debt and tell me if the Fed can do things cheap.

Take a look at the defence expenditure and tell me if you can find a reason for the national debt being the way it is. I would also blame constant tax cuts.

If trusted to the Fed, crappy management can cripple the entire school system nationwide and an entire generation. I am sure someone could come up with examples, maybe such as No Child Left Behind.

No Child Left Behind is a horrible piece of legislation that takes education in the wrong direction entirely. I would hardly use it as an example of a true Federal-based system of education.