Copyright 1999 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
The Houston Chronicle
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May 20, 1999, Thursday 2 STAR EDITION
SECTION: A; Pg. 2
LENGTH:
873 words
HEADLINE: Clinton outlines school plan, takes
aim at vouchers
SOURCE: Staff
BYLINE: NANCY MATHIS, Houston Chronicle Washington
Bureau
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
WASHINGTON - Preparing for a partisan debate
on the federal government's role in public education, President Clinton outlined
Wednesday a sweeping agenda that would require districts to upgrade failing
schools or to allow students to transfer.
The centerpiece of Clinton's
school plan would counter Republican calls for the creation of vouchers that
would allow students, and their parents' tax dollars, to choose either public or
private schools.
Clinton's education program also elevates the issue of
safety and would require more teaching of values and character - a nod to the
nation's mood in the wake of school violence at Columbine High School in
Littleton, Colo., and elsewhere. The president will meet with Columbine students
and parents today during a trip to Littleton.
"We have supported higher
standards, better teachers, new technology, modern facilities, innovations like
charter schools, character education, school uniforms. But we know fundamentally
that if we are going to change the way our schools work, we must change the way
we invest federal aid in our schools," Clinton said in a ceremony on the south
lawn of the White House.
The federal government spends $ 15 billion
annually, a small percentage of public schools' funding and
much of it dedicated to helping improve achievement among low-income students.
Clinton's legislation would require school districts that receive
federal aid to improve their lowest-performing schools. Districts would be
required to upgrade the failing schools within two years. If no improvement is
shown, the district would be required to close the school and reopen it as a
charter school or allow students to transfer to other public schools.
The legislation also would require school districts to phase out the use
of emergency certificates for its teachers, which allow them to teach subjects
in which they have not been certified by the state. It would require states to
adopt performance exams for all new teachers to demonstrate subject knowledge.
Districts would be pushed to end social promotions, develop consistent
discipline policies and make early identification of students who need academic
assistance. It calls on Congress to renew money for hiring new teachers to
reduce class size nationwide to 18 students.
It also calls for triple
funding for after-school and summer programs and more values-oriented education,
and requires districts to provide an annual report on drug and gun violence at
each school. The measure would require districts to develop security and safety
plans.
"We know how to make meaningful change happen. The last thing we
need to be doing at this moment is to be listening to the sound-bite experts who
are already promising another round of silver-bullet solutions and education
quick fixes," said Education Secretary Richard Riley, taking aim at the school
voucher plan supported by many Republicans.
"Vouchers are a bad policy.
It diverts money and attention away from quality public schools. There's no
question in my mind about that," Riley said. "It takes us off of the
concentration of making all schools better and having accountability. And, it
gets you off into some kind of magic way to improve education that I think is
absolutely wrong."
Voucher supporters contend the freedom to transfer to
either public or private schools would create additional competition and force
public schools to increase their quality.
Rep. William Goodling, R-Pa.,
chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Work Force, said, "The
administration's proposals trample on our nation's long and proven traditions of
local control of education; they would impose Washington solutions to local
problems. Republicans and others who value flexibility and local initiatives
have a better approach.
"In exchange for flexibility, we will expect
results. We will improve teacher training, not rely on political solutions like
funding for 100,000 teachers. We will send more dollars to the classroom, where
we know they will make a difference, not tie them up in bureaucracy," he said.
Bruce Reed, the president's domestic policy adviser, predicted there
will be a "great national debate" this year on the role the government should
play in education.
"There are some in Congress who believe that the
national government has no business investing more in education and no business
demanding accountability for results. We disagree. We think this is a national
problem, that we should say once and for all that every kid ought to have a
qualified teacher; no kid in America should be trapped in a failing school; and
that we should fix our schools not one district at a time, not one state at a
time, but everywhere," Reed said.
Sandra Feldman, president of the
American Federation of Teachers, said the organization supports Clinton's plan.
She also noted AFT has forged a coalition with the U.S. Catholic Conference and
other education groups to oppose efforts in Congress to use some educations
funds currently earmarked for disadvantage students to create school vouchers.
"Those funds must continue to go where they are most needed, to
disadvantaged children in our nation's cities, suburbs and rural areas," she
said.
LOAD-DATE: May 21, 1999
