11-11-1999

EDUCATION: Compromise Marked Education, Social Agenda

Delicate compromises yielded some key social policy accomplishments this
year, including the House's passage of a massive overhaul of elementary
and secondary education programs for disadvantaged students and the
enactment of the "Ed-Flex" law freeing schools from certain
federal regulations. But those accords did not stop Democratic and
Republican lawmakers from fanning some partisan flames.


Republicans revived their perennial push for education block grants and
taxpayer-funded vouchers that could help poor families afford private
schools. Democrats, for their part, backed President Clinton's staunch
demand for more money to help states reduce class sizes by hiring 100,000
new elementary school teachers.


GOP leaders ultimately agreed to earmark more than $1.3 billion for
Clinton's class-size reduction program as part of the fiscal 2000 spending
bill for the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education departments.
But the deal also reflected Republican priorities, because it allowed
schools to use 25 percent of the funds to improve teacher quality. Some
schools also could use the money to train uncertified teachers instead of
hiring new ones.


The House narrowly approved last month another GOP initiative to allow
some states to receive their federal education funds as block grants.
Republicans touted this Academic Achievement for All (Straight A's) Act as
the center of their education agenda, but Democrats condemned it and the
Clinton Administration threatened a veto.


The partisan discord over the Straight A's bill stood in sharp contrast to
the spirit of cooperation that surrounded the House-passed Student Results
Act. The bill would reauthorize Title I of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act, which covers disadvantaged students. Democrats agreed to
limit the number of teacher aides who can be hired with Title I funds, and
Republicans dropped a proposal for vouchers to pay private-school tuition
for low-income children.


Republicans and Democrats also found common ground on bills to bring
criminal laws up to speed with the Internet. The House approved a
bipartisan anti-stalking bill to make it illegal to harass or threaten
others through e-mail. Legislation to outlaw interstate gambling through
the Internet is also making its way through both chambers.


Bipartisan language to protect children from Internet pornography and
other controversial online material is included in the far-reaching
juvenile-justice legislation that stalled during House-Senate conference
negotiations. Gun control provisions in the Senate-passed version of the
bill, including restrictions on sales at gun shows, are among the sticking
points facing conferees.


Some of the most divisive social issues this year were revivals of
familiar fights. The Senate approved a bill to ban late-term abortions--as
it did during the previous two Congresses--but fell short of the
two-thirds majority needed to override a promised presidential
veto.


The House approved a bipartisan constitutional amendment to allow Congress
to outlaw flag desecration, and the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a
similar resolution. The Senate Judiciary Committee also approved another
constitutional amendment to provide crime victims with certain guaranteed
rights.


Molly M. Peterson

National Journal