Beginning with a capsule history of United States education reform efforts and an examination of the American "myth" of the apolitical nature of education, this paper explores the political bases of education policy. Reviewing the literature on educational politics with a particular concern for recent curriculum reform efforts at the state level, the author follows Campbell and Mazzoni in using a general political systems theory to focus on policy decisions, system actors, and functional relations. The following political systems measures were used to examine state curriculum policy activity: (1) political culture, (2) education centralization, (3) the scope of governemnt, (4) the welfare-education dimension, (5) interparty competition, (6) interest group strength, (7) legislative professionalism, and (8) the power of governors. After brief discussions of each of these eight measures, the author provides a survey synopsis of state curriculum policy activities and key actors and concludes by calling for additional research into the relationship of state curriculum policy development and public education finance; and (2) state curriculum policy and its implementation on the local level. Also included are three pages of references and five appendixes with data on the extent of involvement of the individual states in various curriculum policy activities. (JBM)