Republicans love block grants. That is the purpose of HR 610, which would take a bunch of federal categorical programs with specific purposes and turn them over to states as block grants, to be used as they see fit.
State control of federal funds, in short, with no strings attached. What could possibly go wrong?
Denis Smith, who worked for the Ohio Department of Education for many years, explains that block grants will open the door to waste, fraud, and abuse.
The Republican introduced a bill called HR 610 with that goal in mind.
At the Network for Public Education, we have heard that the bill won’t go anywhere, but that is by no means certain. For many years, Republicans have longed to change federaid aid for specific groups of children into block grants. So, we will keep a close watch on HR 610.
Another Trump-DeVos gambit that might make it into federal law is encouragement for vouchers via tax credits. This is a sneaky, seemingly benign way of accumulating hundreds of millions, even billions, that will not be paid in taxes but will be used instead to pay for vouchers at yeshivas, madrassas, and creationist schools. We have to fight this strategy so that Trump-DeVos can’t divert tax dollars from public institutions to religious schools. It is a terrible idea. The public doesn’t want public money to be used for religious schools.
We will keep a close eye on all of their efforts to undermine our nation’s public schools.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I can’t believe I missed Denis Smith’s post. Thank you so much for bringing it to our attention. One of the most brilliant and timely things I’ve read in a while.
As money is transferred from the Feds to states in block grants, keep your eyes on the abandonment of supplement, not supplant rules. For example, federal laws are often passed with a significant state fiscal responsibility (supplement). With no strings, states are free to not spend $ on say, special education, thereby effectively cutting the budget (supplant).
Good catch!
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Cutting services, subsidizing the wealthy and calling it fiscal responsibility.
Block grants seem tailor made for the “waste, fraud, and abuse” that corporate education reform favors.
Of course, the chief beneficiaries, enablers and enforcers of rheephorm always look (to unfairly borrow a phase from a country gospel song) “on the sunny side of life”—because regardless of numerous downsides for the vast majority they will have BIGLY amounts of $tudent $ucce$$ to “brighten all the way” to the places where they store it. Not just “symbolically” but “literally” as well.
And dissent from the aspirational goals of the leaders of the “new civil rights movement of our time”? Well, that’s just defenders of the “failed status quo” of “big gubmint monopoly schools” aka “factories of failure” so best to turn a deaf ear to such professional agitators.
Rheeally!
But not really…
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HR 610 has the Arne Duncan trick of requiring a change in state law if vouchers are not on the books. So the new national system must be voucher-compliant or no federal funds will be available. Federal funds to states are in the range of 8% to 12%, average about 10%. Given that many states have already cut their state budgets for education, and most are in Republican hands, this law is likely to pass. Notice that the same bill invites a lot of junk food contractors to get in the game of providing food to all children.
Some key passages in the bill.
“From these amounts, each LEA shall: (1) distribute a portion of funds to parents who elect to enroll their child in a private school or to home-school their child, and (2) do so in a manner that ensures that such payments will be used for appropriate educational expenses.
To be eligible to receive a block grant, a state must: (1) comply with education voucher program requirements, and (2) make it lawful for parents of an eligible child to elect to enroll their child in any public or private elementary or secondary school in the state or to home-school their child.”
This is part of the same bill.
“No Hungry Kids Act
The bill repeals a specified rule that established certain nutrition standards for the national school lunch and breakfast programs. (In general, the rule requires schools to increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat or fat free milk in school meals; reduce the levels of sodium, saturated fat, and trans fat in school meals; and meet children’s nutritional needs within their caloric requirements.)”
Notice that money goes to states, then to local districts where the administrative burden for distributing money is located with no state oversight or consideration of how districts can make sure that payments to parents “will be used for appropriate educational expenses.” Follow them to Walmart? to Target? to Staples? This is a ridiculous bill. It is legislation from Republicans who want to create chaos.
What is the difference between a block grant and pork barrel?