Oregon should nullify No Child Left Behind

I tend to disagree with the Editorial Board's stance on education reform, for I believe government's influence in education must wane, not wax.  Yet calling for “more clarity and simplicity” is on the right track.

First, the State of Oregon must push back against the federal government.  Oregonians—not overlords in Washington, D.C.—should be trusted to run state affairs.

Along these lines, Oregon's intent for a No Child Left Behind waiver is a good idea, yet it can go much further.  The real play is for Oregon to nullify NCLB as unconstitutional and invalid.  Nullifying a patently unconstitutional law—look to the 10th Amendment for guidance—will send a message to the nation that Oregonians stand for freedom, not subservience.

Furthermore, what is the sense for Oregon to be bound by such federal laws that affect our children in a profoundly negative manner?  Money...And for whom or what?

The federal largess attached to education is simply a means for D.C.'s bureaucratic monstrosity to keep pesky states subservient.  Sounds more like totalitarianism rather than the principle of Liberty that Americans are supposed to champion.

This state may have to find alternative and creative means to finance schools in the meantime, yet nullification will be a courageous act and Oregon will set the tone for states—rather than commissars in the nation's capitol—to start managing their own affairs.