Report urges greater federal role in education

Local control of education has produced financial inequality in schools, inconsistent standards, no way of knowing how children are truly doing and an atmosphere dominated by unions, according to a new report yesterday that calls for national standards and a greater federal role in schools.

"It is only by transcending traditional local control, and by getting serious about a new national role in standards and finance, that we can at last create genuine autonomy for local schools," Matt Miller, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, wrote in his report, "Nationalize The Schools ( ... A Little)."