The struggle between local and state and federal control is one as old as our Republic, but a new bill that would allow the Oregon Department of Education to withhold funding from school districts if they are out of compliance with state rules and laws skirts that fine line between proper oversight and undue restrictions.

Senate Bill 1045 understandably isn’t a popular piece of legislation for many school district officials locally, and it is a bad idea according to state Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena.

Hansell’s main contention is the bill, if passed, would take local control away from school boards, and on this one we have to agree with the Umatilla County lawmaker.

Local control of schools is one of the bedrock values at the heart of our Republic. Especially when it comes to curriculum, choices made at the local level by school board members, who are elected by their peers, are crucial.

School boards are one of those democratic mechanisms that invoke accountability. Citizens who sit on a local school board are held responsible by those who elected them to the position. Often in small towns, such as those in Eastern Oregon, the people elected to school boards are well-known or easy to access because they are part of the small-town fabric.

Now, school districts can select curriculum the state does not approve of as long as they go through proper procedure with the education department.

The new bill could create a situation where only state-approved curriculums are approved for local school districts.

That kind of oversight is getting way too far down in the weeds by the Oregon Department of Education. Local folks elected by their neighbors understand the unique challenges and opportunities of their particular region. They understand, far better than a bureaucrat in Salem, what type of curriculum best fits with their community.

This is the type of overreach that leads to a host of unintended consequences. All too often in modern-day politics, ideas are not properly vetted. A particular idea will sound good to a group of supporters, but when executed the concept fails and creates new problems that were unforeseen.

Funding from the state’s education department should never be part of an equation where it can be used to threaten or control. That sends the wrong kind of message.

Local control is important. It allows local residents to make decisions that fit their area, their towns, their families.

Some oversight by the state is, of course, not only needed but necessary. Yet this bill pushes the limits of local versus state control and is, in the end, unnecessary.