The US Department of Education as we know it today was created in 1979 during the Carter administration. The Department of Education Organization Act divided the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (created in 1953 during the Eisenhower administration) into two new entities: the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education. The initial budget for the department was $14.2 Billion.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and that your New Year has gotten off to a great start. This article is the last in a series of three inspired by the Legislative Summit in December. The summit produced two priority lists, and the issue of unfunded mandates, after considerable discussion, wound up on the secondary list, albeit reluctantly. When it comes to unfunded mandates, one that comes to my mind is the issue of expanding Medicaid.

As I reported in my last column, on December 3rd I attended the Legislative Summit at the Blue Ridge Community and Technical College, at which the county commissions of Morgan, Berkeley and Jefferson Counties created a list of legislative priorities to present to state legislators. There were several items on the list, but at the top was the rising burden of regional jail costs on county budgets. According to the summary prepared for the Summit, the three counties spent nearly $5 Million in regional jail costs in Fiscal Year 2011 - 2012.

It is my opinion that the level of government that is the most relevant is the most local. That is why I look forward to the annual Legislative Summit hosted by the Berkeley County Council. It was held at the Blue Ridge Community and Technical College on December 3rd. The invitees included all of the elected officials of the counties of Morgan, Berkeley and Jefferson and the members of the state House of Delegates and the state Senate representing those counties. The public is also welcome. Berkeley County Councilman Stubblefield moderated both the morning and afternoon sessions - and I might interject that he did a yeoman’s job.

As I stated in my previous offering in this space, competition is necessary in order to spur innovation and efficiency. We have laws and regulations that attempt to ensure that there is competition in the marketplace. When it comes to education, however, this principle is ignored, and whether or not we are happy with the results, we have no choice but to continue to pay for them.

One of our time honored traditions that has become part of our culture is that competition is good. Americans have an antipathy to monopoly. We believe that markets should be open and accessible in order to spur innovation. According to Wikipedia, competition law has been around since the Roman Empire. Here in the US, competition law is better known as antitrust law. Antitrust law is fraught with complexity, with problematic attempts by regulators to undo the damage that is inflicted upon the market place by government policy gone wrong.