However, most school districts have been seduced by the federal government. They have taken federal money in return for promising to follow certain federal guidelines.
LOL, what kind of double-talk is this? You just described their legal ties to the federal government while denying they are legal ties! What do you think that "promise" IS that they give for the federal money? You think it's optional? Hell no it's not - it's an acceptance of federal jurisdiction and everything that comes with it. "Guidelines" are federal regulations, period.
Why would you try to hide this simple fact?
In many cases, you're right, it is double-talk! The local school boards don't have to take any federal money; there is no law that forces them to do so.
But yet they always take the money. They take the money and the many strings attached to it. The school boards surrender much of their independence to the federal government in return for money.
So are the school boards part of the federal government? Certainly not! But are they puppets of the federal government? Often they are. That's could be double-talk, I admit. But it's also the truth.