An introduction to a projected collection of essays on law and governance, this paper traces the reasons for and issues in increased federal control of education and lays down the format of the forthcoming collection. The author notes that, although the problems of increased bureaucratic involvement have not been so dramatic in education as elsewhere, there are important parallels between problems in other fields of regulation and those of education, including loss of local control, debilitating expense, inflexibility, and inefficiency. However, it is also observed that the problems in deregulation may be as severe as those in overregulation because organized interests may find it easier to influence decisions and because federal regulation of schools is not so autocratic as is commonly supposed. Choosing the right balance of local and federal control in order to ensure the claim of the poor in public education is presented as the prime issue in the regulation of education. The volume of essays will be divided between issues of regulation, which involve intragovernmental control, and those of legislation, which affect rights and establish whole systems of rulemaking bodies. Each of the two main sections will be further divided into four topics: the origins of governmental involvement in education, the general issues in areas of control, illustrative examples, and future prospects in the era of the New Federalism. (JW)