CONGRESS - A School Yard Brawl

By Richard E. Cohen, National Journal
© National Journal Group Inc.
Saturday, June 05, 1999

	      In the aftermath of the Littleton, Colo., school 
massacre, Washington's focus remains chiefly on steps to keep 
guns out of kids' hands. But some Democrats also view the tragedy 
as an opportunity to lay the groundwork for what they hope will 
be a major dialogue in the next year on education policy. 
Although recent congressional debates on schools have been 
relatively tame, the current atmosphere is a political tinderbox. 
	     Since Congress first agreed in the 1960s to direct aid to 
education, the dollars have been targeted chiefly to research and 
specific education problems. But some Democrats are urging 
broader federal attention to defining educational needs and 
solutions. They've been emphasizing the interconnectedness of 
child development and family life. 
	     House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt, D-Mo., said in 
an interview that the challenge for schools ''is to fill the 
child care holes without letting parents off the hook.'' He 
added: ''The change in our family life is as big as anything 
that's happened in American life. . . . (Addressing it) will take 
all levels of government and all individuals.'' In a recent 
speech, Gephardt said that the Littleton shootings are a reminder 
that ''kids don't raise themselves.'' He noted that two-income, 
or one-parent, households leave parents less time ''to 
communicate with and raise children.'' 
	     Gephardt concedes that he is calling for ''nothing short 
of a revolution'' in public schools. His initial suggestions have 
ranged from smaller schools and longer school days, to school 
breakfasts for kids and more attention to mental illness. In his 
recently published book, An Even Better Place, Gephardt sharply 
dismissed incremental proposals such as requiring school uniforms 
and the wiring of classrooms for the Internet--which President 
Clinton has advocated--as steps that ''tinker around the 
edges . . . but do not address the broad challenges that we 
face.'' 
	     Moreover, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., wants Washington to use 
its limited education resources to ''stimulate the states to do 
innovative things.'' In an interview, Reed stressed the need for 
increased professional development of teachers, more parental 
involvement in schools, and accountability of schools for their 
academic performance. ''A lot of blame for the failure of kids is 
placed on the schools,'' said Reed, who shares Gephardt's 
working-class roots. ''But these are not the children of the 
'50s, so we can't have the same expectations.'' 
	     As a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions Committee, Reed worked to beef up last year's renewal of 
the 1965 Higher Education Act with provisions that established a 
federal grant program so that state teachers colleges can improve 
elementary and secondary school teacher training. Teaching ''is 
too often a solitary trek from one hectic period to another,'' 
Reed said in a recent commencement speech at Rhode Island 
College. ''New teachers, especially, feel isolated and 
overwhelmed.'' This year, when the Senate takes up renewal of the 
1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Reed plans to build 
on his earlier efforts with an initiative for sustained 
professional development of teachers. 
	     Republicans, too, have sought to respond to the outburst 
of school violence with calls for education reform. House Speaker 
J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.--who taught high school for 16 years 
and whose wife continues to teach--has recently discussed the 
need for safe schools and has called for a national dialogue on 
youth and culture. Hastert has embraced a GOP proposal that gives 
the states incentives to encourage teaching reforms. 
	     In describing that legislation, House Education and the 
Workforce Committee Chairman William F. Goodling, R-Pa., drew a 
sharp contrast to Clinton Administration education proposals, 
which he called ''prescriptive and centered on Washington.'' 
Still, the Republicans' initial response to the Littleton 
shootings shows that they have stepped back from their heated 
rhetoric on education policy of a few years ago, when many party 
leaders advocated eliminating the U.S. Education Department. 
	     Democrats, for their part, have been critical of 
Republican proposals for school vouchers and other alternatives 
that emphasize individual choices, although some of those 
proposals have drawn a handful of Democratic sponsors. Reed 
predicted that the upcoming congressional debate on elementary 
and secondary education policy will be ''more highly charged 
politically'' than in the past. ''There is a recognition that 
these issues are important and that the American people expect 
that we will respond to their concerns,'' Reed said. 
	     Gephardt, who said he hugged and cried with parents of 
the murdered Colorado students at their memorial service, 
contended that Congress should do its best to respond. ''I'm not 
so arrogant to think that we can singlehandedly solve these 
problems, but we need to start the process of reaching out for 
comprehensive solutions,'' he said. 
	     Few policy issues carry the emotion of a debate on guns. 
But in the post-Littleton climate, and with virtually every issue 
on the House and Senate floor generating partisan mayhem these 
days, even a discussion of education--a topic that hits home for 
so many Americans--could produce fireworks.