Ideology and the politics of federal aid to education: 1958-1996

The dissertation is a study of federal involvement in education in the United States. Several key legislative episodes are studied in detail: the National Defense Education Act of 1958, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, the Department of Education Organization Act of 1979, the Reagan agenda for education, and Goals 2000. The interaction between liberal and conservative ideologies, and between ideology and other types of politics, is the main form of the analysis. The main sources of information are several education debates and votes in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.;The research questions guiding this study are: (1) What happened to the opponents of federal school aid after the early 1960s? (2) How did remaining opponents influence the debate and resulting legislation during the interval between 1958 and 1996? (3) What ideological factors help account for the increased level of federal involvement since 1958?;The dissertation is a historical examination of opposing arguments and positions on federal aid to education. It blends policy analysis, philosophy, and history to understand why such strong and successful opposition to the growth of this role has evaporated over the last 40 years.;The study concludes with the argument that both ideological and political interpretations are necessary for understanding the evolution of federal education to schools. In several of the cases covered in the study, ideologically acceptable modes of federal involvement are developed through the interaction of conservative and liberal values and beliefs.