Federal Aid to Education on the Conservative-Liberal Scale

Virtually any popular definition of conservatism will lead one to expect conservatives to oppose federal aid to education, which they do. Overwhelming support of federal aid has characterized public opinion for a quarter of a cen tury. Attitudes on the issue are consistent with other elements of a conservative-liberal continuum on domestic welfare issues. Sentiment for federal aid appears to be frustrated by the un willingness or inability of supporters among the low-status groups to articulate financial means with educational ends. Hairbreadth failures of education bills in Congress result from the attachment to them of matters of race and religion which are "nonnegotiable." Action has been prevented by the lack of a concurrent majority. School-aid measures draw intense opposition for quite different reasons from unlikely combina tions of minorities. These have included southern segregation ists, northern Democratic integrationists, Catholics, anti-Catho lics, and a Republican leadership unrepresentative of the party. Of the strains of philosophical conservatism, economy and anti- centralism are the most relevant to the issue. Devotion to edu cation per se is, for most Americans, a second-priority value.