These programs do not lend themselves easily to oversimplification or knee-jerk verbal ejaculations about government intrusiveness.PriestTheRunner wrote: ↑Wed Nov 07, 2018 10:07 am I would like to question, however, where on earth the federal government gets permission to be involved in an intra-state data/phone provider or has permission to have absolutely anything to do with education (aside from enforcing the constitution upon the states through the 14th amendment, that bit is legally justified...). But as far as saying X-program gets these dollars and Y-program gets these, explain to me the federal authority to take such actions? All of it is illegal.
Federal funding grants are, in general, generated to fund federal projects, in alignment with the fundamental concept of "if the government requires it, they have to fund it." There was a federal initiative to expand broadband internet and telephone into rural areas, where it wasn't fiscally realistic for private internet and telephone service providers to do so. So there was federal funding made available to support the initiative. It paid for miles and miles and miles of roadside trenching for fiber optic cable. Then from there, even more trenching, sometimes far off the road, to lay fiber optic cable to individual homes, even if it was a decrepit old mobile home a mile back in the boonies. Without this initiative, millions of rural dwellers would still be sitting out there with dial-up, or struggling with rusty phone wires drooping from phone poles and overpriced, unreliable rooftop satellite dishes.
Special Education funds are the same way. By federal law, education services must be provided to all school aged children, including the disabled. This was mandated by IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1973. To enable public schools to provide these services, IDEA funds are made available to school districts based on special education eligibility data. Without such funding, special education services for disabled children would be virtually non-existent. Texas alone receives over a billion dollars per year in IDEA funding, covering such expenses as teachers certified in special education, special instructional materials and adaptive equipment, staff development, etc.
There are literally hundreds of federal education grants, each targeting a specific student population or a broader objective. I used to manage one federal grant, for example, that paid for training teachers and educators in innovative instructional technology. Another provided special additional funding for "high cost" students, special education students who required extremely expensive equipment or medical services. These resources are a gift from Heaven for a cash-starved school district that can barely afford to keep the lights turned on.
And with Texit, it would all vanish instantly.