Fresh light might be shed on problems of federal education policy by treating them not only as problems of intergovernmental relations but of government regulation of enterprise, given that they involve the attempts of a central government to influence the conduct of enterprises that it does not own nor directly operate. Using well-established categories of regulatory analysis, it appears that certain traditional justifications for regulation, such as correcting for spillover effects, compensating for inadequate consumer information, and reducing "moral hazzard" and paternalism, do apply to federal school regulation. It also appears that traditional regulatory tools such as cost of service rate-making, licensing, disclosure requirements, and standard-setting enjoy roughly the same advantages and disadvantages in education as in other areas. It is concluded that regulatory analysis of education policy points the way toward greater concern for price competition and the survival of innovation under regulatory regimes and toward a reexamination of public ownership of schools. (Author/IRT)