There is Zero reason the Federal Government should be involved in running Schools or Education. Especially due to how much they've F'cked the whole thing up. The education level has taken a nose dive in the US since Federal takeover.
If "Federal" was at fault, explain why even more heavily federal schools in Europe, Asia, and Eastern Europe are doing better than the schools here in USA?
"If slavery is a bad thing and unsustainable in the long run, then why were Spain and Rome so much more powerful than other nations that had fewer slaves?"
It is the difference between an inefficient system being run with some degree of success and an inefficient system being run by drunken monkeys who are impossible to fire and constantly demand more money to "improve". There was a time when the US didn't have any government funded education at all, and there is evidence to suggest that literacy was nearly universal, with the benefit of creativity and entrepreneurship not being repressed in the process.