November 17, 1999

"Who's in Charge?"

• "Pulling in Many Directions." Before the 20th century, education was a decidedly local affair. The young American democracy, which had grown up in opposition to the hierarchies of Europe, operated on the simple premise of keeping government limited and close to home. Local citizens decided whether to have schools, raised the money, hired the teachers, and chose which books to use. They also elected lay leaders, in the form of local school trustees, to oversee the job.

• "School Finance: Slowly, the Burden Shifts To the States." In the 1900's, schooling was largely considered a community responsibility, and Stow and towns and cities like it all across the United States shouldered nearly 80 percent of the costs of educating their young citizens. Massachusetts, chipping in a meager 15 percent on average, was no different from most states.

• "Stanford Professor Created A New Breed of Professional." When a former student and colleague sought an affectionate nickname for Ellwood P. Cubberley, the Stanford University professor who would become one of the century's most influential educators, the young man chose "Dad." The name stuck, and from about 1903 to his retirement in 1933, "Dad" was how Cubberley was known to his students.

• "The Evolving Federal Role." Flanked by his former teacher at the school, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.That action, on April 11, 1965, was a watershed in the evolution of the federal role in American schooling, a turning point both in sheer dollars—by some estimates, federal K-12 spending tripled between 1964 and 1966—and influence on districts nationwide.

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