An extremely vital part of working to make this country better is ensuring that our children are well educated. The blame for the problems in our education system cannot be put on teachers and administrators alone. Parents must take responsibility for their children's education and lawmakers must take a step back from creating more regulations that make it harder for teachers to teach. Teaching students takes place at the local level, and that is where decisions regarding instruction and funding need to be made. The A-PLUS Act, which has been introduced in Congress, would return authority to the state level by allowing states to opt out of No Child Left Behind. States and local governments would have greater control of federal education funds to use on local priorities. States could end ineffective or inefficient federal programs and direct funds toward greater needs. There would be less administrative costs and less bureaucracy to deal with. States, rather than the federal government, would establish standards and assessments and be responsible for publicly reporting results.