It exists because the American government (or governments writ large around the world anyway) have had a poor track record of regulating things ethically. For example, the us government has not done a great job of ethically regulating native Americans, or, ethically regulating terrorism abroad, or maybe in more quotidian and economic terms, regulating the sale of loose cigarettes. It baffles the mind that one would want the same entity responsible for such large scale horrors responsible for deciding educational policy.

If you don't want to involve regulations resulting in people dying, we can look at regulating interior decorating, or hair braiding, neither of which was conducted in the public interest. Can you name the last 2000 regulations that have been enacted in the us? Can you be sure all of them were in the public interest?