What exactly does government do?  No, this is not the start of a Libertarian rant, this is a question of what are some of the big building blocks of a modern government as it pertains to education.  My first pass suggests that there are eight, as listed below.  It will be interesting to do some research on each of the blocks in sequence and see if I missed any or included too much in my first pass.

Functions that Are Good for Your Constitution

By way of clarity, this is not a discussion about the philosophy of government, the degree the state should interfere in the economy or the affairs of its citizens or the programs it should (not) provide.  Also, this focuses exclusively on education although I consider education starting at birth and ending with working.  In addition, there is a continuous exit and entry process.  A high school student gets their first job or a middle-age person is laid off and returns to school for re-training.  To this end, I am proposing that there are 8 core functions or enablers of education:

1. Curriculum: what gets taught.
2. Delivery & Institutions: who delivers the curriculum.
3. Registration: who are students being taught.
4. Results & Performance Management: how was school and is the process of teaching getting better, worse and changing fast enough for the environment.
5. Certification: how do we know the student passed and how do we assess the veracity of the claim.
6. Compliance: are the parties involved in the above doing what they are supposed to?
7. Funding: who pays for all of the above and according to what formulas.
8. Governance: where does the buck stop.

Limits of Education

Each of the above functions transcend the Education government-function and are found more or less through out the rest of government.  Conversely, there are functions that are absent or implied in the above list that are more prominent in other areas of government.  For example, taxation exists in the Education function, at least in Canada, through property assessments.  However, I will de-emphasize this function mostly because other areas of government perform these tasks on behalf of education (e.g. a ministry of finance). 

As a straw dog and 50,000-foot view, what do you think?  Have I missed a function noting the focus on education or would you remove an element?  Next stop on the school bus, curriculum.