THE SAFE AND SUCCESSFUL SCHOOLS ACT OF 2000 -- HON. WILLIAM (BILL) CLAY (Extensions of Remarks - May 02, 2000)

[Page: E613]
---

HON. WILLIAM (BILL) CLAY OF MISSOURI IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, May 2, 2000

Mr. CLAY. Mr. Speaker, today I introduce the Safe and Successful Schools Act of 2000. It will help modernize our public schools by providing grants and loans for up to 8,300 renovation projects in high-need school districts. It will continue the highly successful class size reduction program by helping communities hire an additional 20,000 highly qualified teachers. It will boost investments in quality after-school and summer school programs advocated by the President. It will help us close the digital divide that currently leaves too many poor children and their teachers behind. It will bolster safe and drug free school programs, and strengthen programs to reduce hate crimes by children.

ESEA is our nation's flagship education partnership with local communities. It provides vital assistance to the most vulnerable, educationally challenged children in America. Until this Congress, the ESEA had enjoyed a rich and enduring history of bipartisanship.

Unfortunately, Senate and House Republicans have been highly partisan and divisive. At the beginning of the ESEA process, we urged Republicans to work in a bipartisan way. Instead, they proceeded in a highly partisan manner and created havoc throughout the reauthorization process. In the House, they carved up the ESEA into seven disjointed pieces--hoping to bolster their devastating public image and terrible performance on education.

Today, the ESEA process is in shambles. Straight A's, the Republican education block grant bill, has a veto threat pending and has no chance of becoming law. Their Teacher Empowerment bill has a veto threat pending because of its gratuitous attack and block granting of the Clinton Class Size Reduction Act. Conservative Republican Members are blocking floor action on two other ESEA bills, Even Start and Impact Aid. And the one major bipartisan bill, H.R. 2, has been sharply and publicly attacked by reactionary Republican Members of the Education and Workforce Committee.

Republicans repeatedly refused to work with Democrats to craft the pending ESEA bill, H.R. 4141, and voted in mass to defeat 52 of 54 amendments offered by Democratic Members. The bill passed out of committee is a legislative disaster. Every major education group opposes the bill. The President will probably veto it.

Because the Republicans have decided to play politics with America's school children, they have placed in jeopardy passage of this comprehensive Federal aid program to education. If the Republicans leave town this year without enacting the ESEA, it would be the first time that the program has permanently lapsed in its 35-year history.

I urge the Republican leadership to stop playing politics with our nation's school children, and pass ESEA legislation that can bring urgent relief and assistance to our public schools this year.

THE DEMOCRATIC AGENDA: DEMONSTRATING A NATIONAL COMMITMENT TO OUR NATION'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS
THE SAFE AND SUCCESSFUL SCHOOLS ACT OF 2000
Communities across the country are struggling to address critical needs to build new schools and renovate existing one. One-third of all public schools--about 25,000 schools--need extensive repair or replacement. A recent survey documented over $250 billion dollars of unmet school modernization funding need.
The Safe and Successful Schools Act of 2000 authorizes $1.3 billion annually to help communities make emergency school renovations such as repairing roofs, fixing dangerous electrical wiring and plumbing, bringing schools into compliance with fire safety codes, undertaking asbestos removal or abatement, and removing lead-based paint. The Act will support up to 8,300 renovation projects in high-poverty, high-need school districts that have little or no capacity to fund urgent repairs over the next five years.
Research shows that class size reduction in the early grades is one of the most direct and effective ways to boost student academic achievement, especially among populations of disadvantaged children. Smaller class sizes ensure that every child receives personal attention, gets a solid foundation for further learning, and learns to read independently by the end of the third grade. The Safe and Successful Schools Act of 2000 continues the Clinton/Clay class size reduction program that is helping communities hire and pay for 100,000 new, fully qualified teachers.
The Act also reauthorizes the Small, Safe and Successful High Schools program, which helps high schools to create smaller, safer learning environments. Research has shown that the size of a school and the number of its students greatly impact children's ability to learn and the likelihood that violence may occur.
The bill requires schools reducing class sizes to hire only fully qualified teachers. The bill strengthens ESEA technology programs by focusing on the achievement of performance indicators and the correlation between technology and improved student achievement. The Act requires school safety and drug abuse prevention programs to be based on sound research, and strengthens reporting and eligibility criteria for the Title VI program, increasing program accountability.
Extended learning programs reduce juvenile crime by providing a wide range of education, social, mentoring, and counseling services to help improve student behavior, including services relating to violence prevention and conflict resolution. Recent research has demonstrated that extended learning programs help improve student achievement in reading and math, and reduce truancy and dropout rates.
The Safe and Successful Schools Act more than doubles our investment to $1 billion, in the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program. This program enables schools to stay open longer, providing safe and educational after-school opportunities for some 700,000 school age children in rural and urban communities each year, and vital social health, and educational services for their families.
```
[Page: E614]
```
America's students cannot be expected to learn to high standards if they are threatened by drugs and violence. There is a high level of concern by parents and students about school safety and violence caused in part by the tragic shootings at Columbine High School and other schools in the past two years.
The legislation will increase funding for the Safe and Drug Free Schools Act, and enhance its accountability and performance through the adoption of research-based programs. It also authorizes the Secretary of Education to set aside $5 million annually to fund strong, community-based hate crime prevention activities.
The bill requires school districts, with a history of suspensions and expulsions for gun violence or possession, to work with law enforcement agencies to promote the use of child safety locks.
Lastly, the bill provides new, additional support for school-based alternative education programs to address the educational needs of students who are suspended or expelled from school. This authority will increase the safety of both our schools and communities by ensuring that discipline and violence problems leading to suspensions and explusions do not spill over into the community.
The Safe and Successful Schools Act of 2000 requires all teachers to become certified or fully licensed, and have knowledge of the subjects they teach. The bill creates a ``Parent Right to Know'' requirement to ensure that parents are made aware of the professional qualifications and expertise of their children's teacher. It also includes a provision requiring that parents be notified when their child is being taught by an underqualified or substitute teacher for more than two consecutive weeks.
It also authorizes $50 million to help high-poverty school districts attract and retain teachers and principals through better pay. To become eligible, schools would have to undertake rigorous peer review of every teacher, improve systems to remove low-performing teachers, and provide intensive support to give the opportunity for all teachers to succeed.
Technology in the schools can substantially improve student learning, classroom management, the professional development of teachers, and assessment of student progress. Most importantly, strong school technology programs report significant impact on gains in student achievement in reading, writing, and mathematics. Technology has its greatest impact with low-income and rural students as well as with expanding opportunities for girls. Unfortunately, the ``digital divide'' still separates the technology haves and the technology have-nots--leaving our most disadvantaged children without vital knowledge and tools to compete with their more advantaged peers.
The Safe and Successful Schools Act of 2000 increases the Federal commitment to technology and closing the digital divide. The Act provides $500 million for the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund program, to help the most disadvantaged school districts to provide educators with sustained, high quality training to integrate technology in their classrooms and provide students with the latest access to advantaged technology resources. The Act creates a $50 million Go Girls program to help encourage the ongoing interest in girls in science, mathematics and technology, and prepare girls to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees and careers in science, mathematics, or technology. The bill will provide new support for restructuring teacher education programs so that new teachers are proficient in the use of educational technologies and can integrate technology throughout their instructional practices. Lastly, it also creates new initiatives to develop and expand cutting edge technologies to improve teaching and learning, and to establish community technology centers in the neediest communities.

END