Decentralized Administrative System of USA

Decentralized administrative system is necessary for democracy for it diminishes the

influence of the central autocracy and transfers some of the State’s powers to the municipalities,

to local and regional departments. This system empowers the political influence of local elected

officials and gives them opportunity to participate in decision making. The individual citizens

could also easily have access to public services.

American education system three sources govern the ladder system:

The federal government, the state government and the local school board. The legal

governance of the school is in the hands of the state. Each state should make sure that its schools

abide by the laws of the nation. Despite the fact that each state is influenced by nationalizing

factors that come from the federal government, there is no centralized control of education. The

public school system in the USA is governed by an open decentralized system. State legislatures

are responsible for the public education. Their task is to authorize funding and give legislative

support for the schools. All states have state boards of education, which deal with policy

development, personnel recruitment, budgeting, curriculum and the law. State boards of

education also appoint the state superintendent of education (Hlebowitsh & Tellez, 1997).

In the system of educational decentralization the education finance is dealt by the

regional or local government (school districts) for the purpose of shifting some of the financial

burden for education from the central government to the local governments, community

organizations and/or parents. Decentralization is based on democratic principles, gives

legitimacy to institutions by redistributing power and empowering the local community to have

greater voice in decision-making. It promotes legitimacy while centralization promotes power.

The other aspect of decentralization is the improved quality in education by moving decision
making closer to the needs of each school and giving teachers and school officials some

incentives for quality improvement. In this Way it is aimed to increase the competitiveness of the

system and provide easy adaptation to the changing environment (World Bank Group, 2003).