Editing Education in the United States (section)

===Governance===
The [[Federal government of the United States|national]] and [[State governments of the United States|state]] governments share power over public education, with the states exercising most of the control. Except for Hawaii, states delegate power to [[County (United States)|county]], [[city]] or [[township (United States)|township]]-level [[school board]]s that exercise control over a school district. Some school districts may further delegate significant authority to principals, such as those who have adopted the [[Portfolio strategy]].

The U.S. federal government exercises its control through its Department of Education. Though education is not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, federal governments traditionally employ threats of decreased funding to enforce laws pertaining to education.<ref name=doe2>{{cite web|url=http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/role.html|title=Federal Role in Education|publisher=United States Department of Education|date=February 13, 2012|access-date=September 21, 2013}}</ref> Under recent administrations, initiatives such as the [[No Child Left Behind Act]] and [[Race to the Top]] have attempted to assert more central control in a heavily decentralized system.

[[Nonprofit]] private schools are widespread, are largely independent of the government, and include secular as well as [[parochial school]]s. [[Educational accreditation]] decisions for private schools are made by [[regional accreditation|voluntary regional associations]].