03-04-2000

EDUCATION: An Incomplete Grade On Senate ESEA Bill

It was like the first day of school on March 1 for members of the Senate
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee as they began marking up
legislation to reauthorize the landmark Elementary and Secondary Education
Act. They had book bags stuffed with amendments that they were ready to
show the teacher, who promptly declared a recess.


Chairman James M. Jeffords, R-Vt., postponed action on the bill (S. 2) for
a week because, he said, of conflicts with votes on the Senate floor. But
Jeffords also warned his squabbling students that they might have to stay
after school to finish their chores, "even if it takes two or three
working days to do it."


Committee Democrats have drafted more than 50 amendments, and Republicans
have drawn up at least 16. If all of the amendments are proposed and
debated, the committee's deliberations could stretch into
mid-March.


In opening statements, Democrats and Republicans promised plenty of
pyrotechnics over how to distribute some $19 billion in federal aid to
schools in the next fiscal year.


Republicans want to give schools more "flexibility" to spend the
money as they see fit by providing block grants for some programs and
permitting poorer school districts to consolidate funds for other
programs. Democrats want to reserve the money for specific purposes and
hold state and local school administrators directly accountable for the
results of the programs aided by the legislation.


Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., said he would propose amendments to give parents
small grants enabling them to take their children out of "failing
schools" and enroll them in other public or private schools. He
charged that $115 billion in federal aid to schools has largely been
wasted over the past three decades.


But Democrats maintained that reforms in the ESEA that began in 1994 are
starting to have positive results. A sharp turn in education policy would
jeopardize those advances, they said.


When the committee reconvenes on March 7, the first order of business will
be an amendment by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., that would delete one of
the major block-grant provisions in Jeffords' bill and provide $2 billion
for teacher recruitment, mentoring programs for young teachers, and
additional training for teachers.


Republicans will counter with various amendments to funnel money to states
and local school districts with few strings attached. Their goal is to
give educators plenty of room to set their own priorities and devise
programs to achieve them.


Kennedy argued that the GOP's approach would "shift scarce federal
dollars away from support for reforms." He also complained that its
approach "relies on block grants that set no priorities, leaves the
door wide open to fraud and abuse, and does nothing to improve student
achievement." If Democrats are unsuccessful in committee, Kennedy
said they will bring their amendments to the Senate floor, where an
election-year brawl over education policy could be messier than a
kindergarten art class.


The House is taking a piecemeal approach to its ESEA legislation: It
approved a renewal of a major portion of the law in October and is working
on the rest this year.


David Hess

National Journal