Ted Cruz: Federal Government Is “Sort of Like a Drug Dealer”

Fox News’ Megyn Kelly had U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) on earlier this week to respond to what former Governor Jeb Bush had to say during their interview over the weekend.  The exchange related to Common Core I found pretty interesting.

Kelly:  Common Core.  He’s going to stand on that as raising American standards.  You see it a bit differently.

Cruz:  I do, I think we should repeal every single word of Common Core.  The reason is I think education is far more important for it to be governed by unelected bureaucrats in Washington.  It should be at the state level or better the local level…

Kelly:  But it is.  The response to that is that governors got together to push this through.

Cruz:  But Megyn that’s not how it works.  The Obama administration had used money, federal money, to force states to adopt Common Core standards.

Kelly:  But can’t they bail out if they don’t want to be a part of it?

Cruz:  Well sure they can, but there are a lot of dollars connected to it.  The federal government, it’s sort of like the drug dealer that goes to junior high and gets the kid hooked saying “just try it once.”  The federal government has offered the states these dollars and there’s so many strings attached. (emphasis mine)

So true, but they don’t even have to give them a taste. All they have to do is promise.  My Iowa’s State Board of Education and Department of Education jumped all over Common Core and Smarter Balanced for the promise of Race to the Trough Top money.  The Iowa Legislature also ramrodded through charter school legislation to make the state more competitive.  Iowa didn’t receive a dime of Race to the Top money.  They didn’t even receive a NCLB flexibility waiver.

To use a related illustration – it’s really sad when a state prostitutes itself for federal money and doesn’t even get paid.

HT: The Pulse 2016 for the transcript