“This is effing CRAZY, even for California.”
The policy come from DC.
With federal funding comes federal rules.
Federal funding should strictly be by formula based half on population (to help low income states) and half on state resident personal income taxation (to help high cost states). It should be send to a state government account and be solely usable for public infrastructure, transportation and 2005 Medicare scope medical.
Block granting is necessary because the federal budget is too big for Congress to understand in detail. A California congressman typically has no idea how badly New Hampshire may need to replace a bridge.
There should be no federal connection to education at any level at all. Or medicine. Or insurance. Or...