Manna explores the dynamics of forty years of education policymaking to answer a puzzling question: if state and local governments are the primary caretakers of elementary and secondary education, how have federal policymakers so greatly expanded their involvement in the country's schools since 1965? From Lyndon B. Johnson's signing of the carefully worded funding bill, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to George W. Bush's imposing but underfunded "No Child Left Behind" initiative, Washington's influence over America's schools has increased signficantly. At the same time, the states have developed more comprehensive, and often innovative education policies. A wide array of educational issues has appeared on the political agenda both nationally and at the state level. Manna argues that this is no accident: that national and state leaders have borrowed strength from each other-- strength in terms of both politically viable arguments and of such governmental capacity to act as financing, the existence of regulatory agencies, and professional capability--to develop and enact educational reforms. He shows how our nation's education agenda has taken shape through the interaction of policy entrepreneurs at national and state levels in our federal system of government. Based on Manna's analyses of public laws, presidential speeches, congressional testimony, public opinion, political advertising, and personal interviews, this book draws on concepts of federalism and agenda-setting to offer an original view of the growing federal role in education policy.