ON THE HILL

“TEACHER EMPOWERMENT ACT,” (HR 1995) PASSES HOUSE

This legislation combines class size reduction funds with Eisenhower Professional Development Funds. It forces local school districts to choose between hiring new teachers to reduce class size or providing professional development opportunities to educators. The "Teacher Empowerment Act," in effect, undermines one of the most effective teaching and learning tools--smaller classes with increased individual attention. The bill also permits federal funds to be used for “tenure reform,” merit pay and teacher testing and prohibits federal funding for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

In a letter to House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-MO), President Clinton said: "I will veto [this legislation] in order to protect our nation's commitment to smaller classes and better schools." The bill's supporters do not have the votes to override a veto.

This block-grant legislation is the first of several education bills the House Leadership intends to push through as part of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

NEA supports reauthorization of ESEA, improving on the standards and accountability initiatives introduced in 1994. The programs within ESEA fit together, forming a foundation that supports student achievement. The act should be reauthorized as a whole.

The House Leadership strategy obscures and diminishes the programs without appearing to attack these popular initiatives. All of the bills proposed commingle funds and deliver them to the states under the guise of "flexibility." As programs lose their focus and identification, diminished funding evokes less public outcry.

Senate leaders plan to draft a single, comprehensive renewal of ESEA, ultimately forcing the various House bills into the same format.

FINANCIAL FREEDOM ACT (HR 2488)

The House Leadership offered and passed a somewhat scaled-back tax package, with income tax cuts ($792 billion) phasing in ONLY if progress in paying off the national debt reaches certain benchmarks.

Faced with controversy and shaky support, the House Leadership delayed Wednesday’s scheduled vote on the House tax bill, H.R. 2488, the so-called Financial Freedom Act. The bill, as passed by the Ways & Means Committee, included far-ranging tax cuts that would cost the treasury $864 billion over 10 years (scaled back to $792 billion). According to the Congressional Budget Office, the reduced revenue would result in an increase of $155 billion in interest payments on the national debt. Thus the true cost of the bill would be $1,019 billion, or $23 billion more than the entire projected “on-budget,”--i.e., non-Social Security--surplus. Moderate Republicans and Democrats called the bill fiscally irresponsible.

The bottom-line: The proposed tax cuts depend upon Draconian cuts in programs and services or a return to deficit spending. Education programs would be subject to cuts totaling almost $30 billion over the next ten years.

The Senate tax bill proposes less sweeping cuts. The President supports modest tax cuts and promises to veto sweeping tax cuts.

NO JUVENILE JUSTICE BILL,YET!

There is still no timeline for convening the conference committee to reconcile the differing House and Senate Juvenile Justice bills. Gun-safety efforts suffered a setback this week when the ban in importing large-capacity ammunition clips was stripped from the Senate-passed Juvenile Justice bill. Imports are revenue related and the Constitution requires that such measures originate in the House. Representative Diana DeGette (D-CO) moved quickly to file a "discharge petition." A discharge petition requires the House to take up a bill, once the petition has 218 signatures.

ACTION IN THE STATES: VOUCHERS

This year, 26 states considered at least one bill--and in the case of Texas, as many as six--to fund private and religious school vouchers. In many states, voucher bills never made it out of committee. In eight states--Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Ohio--voucher legislation made it to the House or Senate floor. In New York City, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's proposal to try out vouchers in one of the city's five boroughs--the sole attempt to enact vouchers at the local level--stirred up citywide opposition and was turned down by the City Council.

Ohio: Ohio's legislature passed a state education budget reinstating the Cleveland voucher program struck down in May by the Ohio Supreme Court. The bill allocates $11.2 billion for the 1999-2000 school year and $13.8 million for 2000-2001.

NEA joined the Ohio Education Association, the American Civil Liberties Union, People for the American Way and Americans United for Separation of Church and State in filing a complaint in federal court to stop abuses in the Cleveland voucher program. In response to a parent's complaint, the Cleveland Plain Dealer published a front-page investigative piece highlighting rampant abuses and an absence of accountability. "Ohio taxpayers paid a six-figure tab this year to send poor children from Cleveland to a private school staffed mostly by unlicensed teachers, including a convicted murderer. The children attended classes in a 110-year old building with no fire alarm, no sprinkler system, broken windows and potentially brain-damaging lead paint flaking from a wall." (Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 1, 1999). An independent audit shows that the program ran 41 percent over budget in 1998, which forced the state to take nearly three million dollars from public school funds to cover the overruns.

Florida: The Florida PTA is joining a coalition of groups including Florida's teacher unions, the NAACP, American Civil Liberties Union, American Jewish Congress and People for the American Way in a legal challenge of the state's voucher program. At two failing Pensacola public schools eligible for the plan this year, 78 students have chosen to switch to a better-performing public school in the district, while 68 have elected a private school.

Colorado: Several legislators, led by State Senator John Andrews of Englewood, held a news conference recently where they linked vouchers and the Columbine tragedy. The group's agenda, called Safer Kids, Safer Schools, is "to make every student safer by guaranteeing parental satisfaction or a tuition voucher, and to make every school safer by daily remembrance of our nation's moral and spiritual heritage." The voters of Colorado have twice rejected the idea of funding private schools with tax dollars.

Upcoming State Battlegrounds: Voucher watchers predict that the next state legislative battlegrounds where pro-voucher politics are likely to emerge include Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The Children’s Scholarship Fund (CSF) has a strong presence in Arizona, Arkansas, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. Arkansas is also the home of CSF co-founder John Walton. The highly influential Catholic Church in Louisiana is promoting vouchers. Pro-voucher Amway millionaire Richard DeVos is based in Michigan. Voucher proponents there are paving the way for a ballot initiative to amend the state’s constitution that now prohibits the use of public money for religious institutions.

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