Howls of protest about the plan's usurpation of local prerogatives have already begun.

Mr. Bush said that was a local prerogative, which he strongly recommended.

This was controversial because until then, individual states saw the setting of holidays as a local prerogative, a means of exerting their independence from the larger Government.

Mr. Bush's education plan calls for more intensive federal monitoring of schools and programs that get federal money, but he talks often about keeping public education a local prerogative.

"Well, it ain't a local prerogative," Augustus said.

He said the league was concerned that the standards not "infringe on local prerogatives, increase costs and possibly jeopardize health and public safety."

In the sixteen-week training program at Quantico, agents were told never to usurp local prerogatives.

This plan is not a rejection of local prerogative but gives the chiefs more access to make a decision.

They see national tests as a violation of local prerogatives and a step toward a Washington takeover of education in general.

The Connecticut Association of Schools said the start of the school day should be a local prerogative and not a state mandate.