Copyright 1999 The National Journal, Inc.
The National Journal
July 3, 1999
SECTION: EDUCATION; Pg. 1951; Vol. 31, No. 27
LENGTH: 2526 words
HEADLINE:
Silicon Valley's Reform Bug
BYLINE: Neil Munro
HIGHLIGHT:
High-tech is wading into the debate
over how best to revamp
public education.
BODY:
Across the nation, many high-tech companies
donate new
and used computers, software, and employees' expertise to
schools. Microsoft Corp., for instance, has distributed copies of
its
software programs valued at tens of millions of dollars if
sold retail,
while many smaller firms, such as BTG Inc. of
Fairfax, Va., give away a
steady trickle of surplus gear to local
schools.
Cisco Systems Inc., the San Jose, Calif.-based developer
of Internet
communications gear, has gone a step further by
creating academies within
1,000 high schools around the nation.
At these academies, roughly 17,000
students are learning to
modify and repair Cisco's complex Internet
technology. The
curricula and tests are controlled by Cisco, which has spent
more
than $ 20 million on the effort. The training will provide good
jobs for the students and boost Cisco's sales when the students
join the
work force. Microsoft has created similar centers at
more than 1,800
schools. More controversial is the role played in California
by a
gowing number of high-tech executives who are using their own
money
to promote statewide education reform. Perhaps the first on
the scene was
David Packard, heir to a fortune generated by the
Hewlett-Packard Co.--long
considered the wellspring for Silicon
Valley's high-tech expertise.
Beginning in the mid-1990s, he
promoted children's literacy by retraining
teachers in
''phonics'' teaching techniques and by donating reading
material.
Ron Unz, who made his millions selling
software designed
by his Silicon Valley firm, Wall Street Analytics Inc.,
played a
far more controversial role by spending roughly $ 1.2 million--
including about $ 700,000 of his own money--to win voter support
in June
1998 for Proposition 227, which he authored. This
initiative, which largely
barred bilingual education, was
strongly opposed by teachers groups and
nearly all major
Democratic and Republican officials. ''Sometimes, very
straightforward ideas make sense,'' said Unz, who points to
recent exam
results showing sharp improvement among some students
removed from bilingual
classes.
Reed Hastings, another Silicon Valley
executive, spent $4.5 million of his own cash to get his charter-school
initiative
qualified for a ballot in 1998. Hastings, who was backed by the
Technology Network, a high-tech industry lobbying group in
Silicon
Valley, and by other business groups, used the ballot
initiative to force an
agreement in May 1998 between the state
legislature and education groups.
The resulting law raised the
state's cap on the number of charter schools to
250, and allowed
up to 100 more charter schools every subsequent year, thus
increasing competition among the public schools. ''We don't know
how to
educate . . . but we do know the value of competition,''
said Roberta Katz,
president of the Technology Network.
Next, the
Technology Network wants to offer voters two
initiatives that would allow
charter schools to use public school
facilities, and allow bonds for
education spending to be approved
by a simple majority, rather than
two-thirds, of voters. ''There
was a time when we thought the answer was to
put computers on
desks . . . (but) we understand there is a lot more to
improving
education,'' says Technology Network vice president Michael
Engelhardt.
Meanwhile, Timothy C. Draper, a
venture capitalist with
Draper Fisher Jurvetson in Redwood City, Calif., is
proposing an
initiative that would create education vouchers. He estimates
that it will take $ 2 million to get the initiative onto the
ballot.
In these California battles, entrepreneurs in the
high-
tech industry are driven by a mix of corporate strategy and
personal motivation, said Unz, Draper, and others. For example,
Hastings
and Unz spent their money with no expectation of
profits, while many
business officials invest in education
because of their worry that shortages
of skilled labor will crimp
their companies' growth. ''We don't have much of
a farm team
developing in the K-12 area,'' said Draper. These hard-nosed
corporate warnings, however, usually coexist with a concern for
students
in poor schools. ''When you do something for somebody,
it comes back to
(benefit) you . . . . I don't know why, it just
comes back,'' said Draper.
Education groups have opposed most of these
measures,
especially the Unz and Hastings initiatives. ''They've made a lot
of money in a short time, and I suppose they are looking around
for
things to do,'' said Tommye Hutto, a spokeswoman for the
300,000-member
California Teac and fourth-ranking member of the
House GOP leadership.
Boehner's job for the previous four years
had been to act as a strategist
and communicator of the
Republican agenda. In the ancient tradition of
killing the
messenger, the Conference voted to oust Boehner from the
chairmanship and replace him with Rep. J.C. Watts, R-Okla.
But while Gingrich has been banished and Linder has
nearly
vanished (the House Rules Committee is his only
assignment), Boehner has
suddenly resurrected himself by
designing what has quickly become the House
Republicans' only
attempt at a health care policy agenda. And, said sources,
this
is just the first step of Boehner's climb back into higher
positions of influence within Congress--and possibly beyond.
From his new post as chairman of the House Education and
the
Workforce Employer-Employee Relations Subcommittee, Boehner
has seized on
the panel's jurisdiction over employer-sponsored
pension and health care
plans to develop eight bills
restructuring the managed care and health
insurance industry.
Those policy areas normally fall
within the House
Commerce Committee's purview. Boehner, however, coordinated
the
introduction of eight managed care bills, sharing the sponsorship
credit with other Republican lawmakers, and quickly voted them
out of
his subcommittee. Members of the Commerce Committee,
including Chairman Tom
Bliley, R-Va., stood flat-footed as their
jurisdiction was ripped out from
under them.
And Boehner, only six months after being
ousted from the
House leadership, even won a blessing for his health care
efforts
from Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., who headed the Republican
Health Care Task Force during the previous Congress.
''He outmaneuvered Bliley and (House Ways and Means
Health
Subcommittee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif.) by developing
his agenda,''
said a top health care lobbyist. ''The leadership
turned to Boehner because
he had a plan. He gave the leadership a
tangible, appropriate bill to
proceed with.'' Another top health
care lobbyist said of Boehner: ''He's
taken control of one of the
diciest issues of the year. He took it, grabbed
it, and did it in
a way the Speaker was comfortable with.''
Health care-watchers were stunned by the quick and
decisive
actions of Boehner and other members of the Education
and the Workforce
Committee, which has long been a bit player in
health care policy compared
with the Commerce and the Ways and
Means committees. But none of the House
members, aides, or
lobbyists interviewed said they were at all surprised
that it is
Boehner leading the charge. He is, after all, a former House
leader.
The consensus is that the Education and
the Workforce
panel members, some of whom are the most obscure and weakest
members of Congress, would never have stepped ahead of Commerce
or Ways
and Means if Boehner had not returned. The subcommittee
markup on June 17
would never have happened, they said.
Granted,
Boehner still faces several intraparty obstacles
to moving the Republican
health care plan out of the full
Education and the Workforce Committee.
Moderate Reps. Charlie
Norwood, R-Ga., Marge Roukema, R-N.J., and Jim
Greenwood, R-Pa.,
and other committee Republicans, favor elements of the
Democrats'
managed care reform plan, especially provisions
expanding the
legal liability of negligent health insurers and allowing
doctors
more input in patient care. Boehner is negotiating with those
Republicans to reach a compromise.
And Bliley,
whose committee also has Republican members
who support elements of the
Democrats' proposal, promised that
his panel will get back in the game after
months of largely
fruitless negotiating. Referring to Boehner, Bliley
sternly said
in an interview: ''He's staked out that jurisdiction. But we
will
be sure to take back what belongs to us.''
Boehner's health care bills have little chance of
becoming law, or
even of passing the House, because of the
Republicans' mere six-seat
majority. But he has succeeded in
finally giving House Republicans a health
care agenda, which is a
huge victory in itself.
The Democrats want to make health insurance plans subject
to economic
and punitive damage awards for their care decisions.
As an alternative,
Boehner has proposed that disputes between
patients and their health plans
be settled by an independent,
external reviewer--usually a doctor in that
specialty of care--
not the courts. The decisions of those external
reviewers would
be binding. Health insurers are willing to swallow such a
review
process if it helps them avoid the liability reforms that
Democrats have proposed. (Democrats also include external
reviewers in
their proposals, but argue that health plans should
still be legally
liable--as all other businesses are--for
negligent behavior.)
To be sure, Democrats continue to pound Republicans
relentlessly in the political battle over ''patients' rights.''
But
Boehner has developed an agenda to serve as the Republican
counterpunch.
Compared with last year, the degree of confidence
among House Republicans in
fighting the rhetorical battle over
managed care reform has
improved dramatically. The ability to
instill such confidence in the troops
is the kind of thing that
could catapult Boehner back into a higher
leadership position.
Boehner's allies argue that he
was unfairly blamed for
the Republican losses in the 1998 elections. Sources
who were
close to Boehner at the time say he had little influence on the
actions of the three Republicans above him: Gingrich, Majority
Leader
Dick Armey, and Majority Whip Tom DeLay, the latter two of
Texas. Boehner,
according to these sources, was merely
responsible for communicating the
flawed actions of his superiors
in a positive light.
Boehner's allies also maintain that last year he told
Gingrich, Armey,
and DeLay that Republicans had to run on an
agenda of accomplishment; and he
allegedly counseled against
being ''overzealous'' in the prosecution of the
case against
President Clinton. ''In the old environment, the mistakes of
Newt, Armey, and DeLay became the mistakes that he, in part, was
blamed
for,'' said a GOP aide sympathetic to Boehner.
Boehner made himself an enemy of House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bud Shuster, R-Pa., by actively
opposing his plan for more highway and transit spending in 1997.
Shuster
aides even claim that Boehner, while sitting in the
Speaker's chair, banged
the gavel early to end a crucial House
floor vote in which Shuster lost by
two votes. Late last year,
Shuster became the primary vote counter--and
whipper--for Watts'
bid to dethrone Boehner. And Shuster rarely loses.
Education Committee Chairman William F. Goodling,
R-Pa.,
is expected to retire after this Congress, and the committee
Republicans who are senior to Boehner--besides Roukema, who wants
to
chair the Banking and Financial Services Committee--are not
strong
''leadership'' types. So Boehner may make a run for the
chairmanship.
Meanwhile, things are not going so well for the
House
leadership these days. If heads are lopped off once again,
Boehner's allies say that his initiatives on health care reform
have
allowed him to showcase his leadership skills and emerge
from under the
large shadow cast by Gingrich, Armey, and DeLay.
He's pursuing his own
agenda now, not theirs. ''People realize
that Boehner's level-headedness and
strategic thinking is
somewhat missing from the current leadership,'' said a
Republican
aide.
In addition, Boehner derives
lasting strength from his
ability to help other Republicans in an election
pinch. Rarely
facing a serious challenge for re-election in his
overwhelmingly
Republican district, Boehner is nevertheless a prolific fund-
raiser. He still maintains his leadership political action
committee,
called the Freedom Project, which allows him to help
elect new House
Republicans, who might return the favor some day
by voting him back into a
leadership post.
Boehner is also tight with business
lobbyists and has
carried their agenda on a range of labor-related issues.
Last
year, he was a key player in launching the congressional
investigation of the Teamsters Union and acted as a broker on the
financial services modernization bill, although the leadership
has kept
him at arm's length on the latter issue this year. A
Freedom Project party
in March at Polly Esther's bar in
Washington raised more than $ 300,000--not
bad for someone
recently ousted from the Republican leadership.
''It was remarkable,'' said a lobbyist who attended.
''It
was the exact opposite of the Washington stereotype that 'all
your
friends leave when you lose.' It was crowded, with loud
music. John was
there, smoking his cigarettes.''
And then there is
the subtle talk among Boehner allies
that he may set his eyes on becoming
Commerce Secretary, or
holding another Cabinet position, in a George W. Bush
Administration.
Some of his House colleagues
said that Boehner was
disappointed by his leadership election loss. But,
these
lawmakers add, he did not sulk. ''I had worried that when he
lost,
he might lose interest,'' Goodling said. ''But he's studied
hard to master
(health care). He's done a tremendous job.''
A
health care lobbyist said: ''He clearly picked himself
up from
disappointment and dived right back in. And that shows
some leadership on
his part.''
So what's at the core of Boehner's
resurrection? ''John
likes to be a player,'' said another lobbyist. ''He
wants to be
in the middle of something big. (Health care) gives him the
chance to be in the cross fire--and to try to fix it.''
As for Boehner himself, he declined to comment on what
lies
ahead for him. When asked during an interview if he had
''resurrected''
himself, he smiled, took a drag on his ever-
present Barclay cigarette,
shrugged his shoulders, and exhaled.
He would say only that he plans to
remain focused for now on his
subcommittee chairmanship.
LOAD-DATE: July 07, 1999 
