Education is a universal necessity – but it is a parental duty to monitor and evaluate what is being taught, and to motivate the child to attend to his lessons. It is not appropriate for the education standards or methods to be dictated by agencies outside the state, whether by grants or by non-elected authorities. While it is appropriate for state education officers to look at what other states are doing, they are answerable to you. You, as parents, must be the final authority over curriculum choices and you must be in charge of education resources, including funding. There is no power in the United States Constitution that allows the federal government any authority over how Tennessee children shall be educated. There is no power that allows the federal government to fund state education activities, nor to influence them by setting rules for how those funds are spent.That is because the founders recognized that parents have the actual authority for how children are to be educated, and these parents must exercise their power by working with local and - at the farthest reach - state, education professionals.