You increase local control not by mandating statewide tests, but by giving parents and their children the ability to form schools that meet their needs. You increase local control by allowing public school choice and by passing a charter school law. Public school choice would open the educational system to the influence of the market. This is valuable because market demands provide an impetus to change. School choice by itself, however, does not adequately resolve the problem, since parents and students would by limited to choosing among the existing public schools.
Charter schools allow groups of parents, teachers and community members to from new public schools.
The school's charter sets forth its purposes and goals, which the state government monitors and requires to be met. In exchange the charter school is freed from much of the regulation which binds traditional public schools. Within this framework of choice and charter schools, the state fulfills its constitutional duty by providing support to local communities. Except for the barest standards in reading, writing and math proficiency, the state would not mandate curriculum goals. One size does not fit all, even one mandated by the state.