School board members bring education agenda to Capitol Hill

For more information about any of the following issues, contact Dan Fuller, FRN advocate, (703) 838-6763, or call NSBA's fax-on-demand service, (800) 609-NSBA.

Vouchers: Taxpayers Lose

The congressional Republican majority will continue its efforts to send public tax dollars to private and parochial schools. Last year, voucher advocates came close but did not succeed in enacting a federal voucher program.

Two proposals–to create education savings plans for private school vouchers and to provide vouchers to 2,000 District of Columbia students–passed the 105th Congress and were vetoed by President Clinton in 1998.

A proposal to allow Title VI block grants to be used for voucher programs was defeated narrowly in the House in 1997.

NSBA believes the debate should be focused on the need to improve our public schools for all children, not draining public school resources into private schools.

The public appears to agree. An overwhelming majority of Americans (71 percent) favor reforming public education, and only 23 percent favor finding an alternative to the existing school system, according to the 1997 Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll.

Over the past three decades, voters in 20 states have defeated voucher and tuition tax credit referendums.

Studies of the voucher programs in Milwaukee and Cleveland found no substantial benefits in academic achievement of students who have received vouchers. Both programs also were plagued by mismanagement and accountability problems.

An Investment for Students

While Congress appropriated a 12 percent increase in education programs for the current fiscal year, most of the increase was for new programs, with the result that many existing programs received level funding or only nominal increases. The Clinton Administration's proposed budget for FY 2000 continues that trend.

Although Congress appropriated a significant increase for special education ($500 million), it does not cover the excess costs incurred by school boards in providing special education services.

At the FRN conference, an aide to Rep. William F. Goodling (R-Pa.), chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said Goodling will support efforts to finance the full federal commitment to special education (40 percent of excess costs). The federal government currently pays only 12 percent.

Education appropriations in recent years have not kept pace with burgeoning student enrollment and the higher costs associated with the increased needs of a diverse student population.

Elementary and secondary school enrollment is expected to expand by 7 million students, a 14 percent increase, between 1993 and 2005, according to a 1997 report by the National Center for Education Statistics.

Schools need modernizing

NSBA supports the establishment of a needs-based federal funding program to reduce the costs of new public school construction and renovation.

Too many students attend schools with overcrowded classrooms, obsolete equipment, and other structural obstacles that hinder student safety and learning.

Many existing structures simply no longer can accommodate the technology and communications requirements needed for successful learning environments.

And many school districts are unable to keep pace with a rapidly growing student population.

According to a 1996 U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) study, 38 percent of urban schools, 29 percent of suburban schools, and 30 percent of rural schools have at least one building needing extensive repair or total replacement.

The total national repair bill for school buildings is estimated to cost $112 billion. Seventy-four percent of public schools–about 59,000 schools–are more than 25 years old and nearly a third of those schools are more than 50 years old.

The President's budget for FY 2000 includes a major school construction tax incentive program.

Congress rejected a similar plan last year, although school infrastructure bills were introduced in the last Congress calling for various methods of financing school construction, from direct grants, to state-allocated tax credits to builders, to state infrastructure revolving loan funds.

A connection to knowledge

The e-rate makes technology, such as telephone service and Internet access, affordable for all schools and libraries.

To date, the School and Libraries Division of the Universal Service Administrative Co. (and its predecessor, the Schools and Libraries Corp.) has issued funding commitments to more than 17,000 applicants allocating more than $620 million of the $1.9 billion available in the 1998 funding cycle.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reduced year-one funding levels by 40 percent and extended the funding cycle from one year to 18 months. As a result, many schools did not receive needed discounts on internal connections to the classroom.

In late spring, the FCC will vote on funding levels for the e-rate program for year-two (1999-2000) applications. NSBA will call upon Congress to urge the FCC to support the maximum $2.25 billion in annual discounts. And NSBA will urge Congress to reject legislation, already introduced, to terminate the e-rate program.

Special Ed discipline

In the 106th Congress, NSBA will work to alter provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to give local school officials the discretion they need to place a child with special needs in an alternative setting when that child poses a danger to others.

NSBA believes the provision in IDEA that allows school officials to make an alternative interim placement for up to 45 days when a child brings a weapon or drugs to school does not go far enough.

The administrative procedure established under current law to reassign a special education student whose behavior is likely to injure others is so costly in terms of legal and related expenses (generally $10,000 to $20,000 per case) and so cumbersome that the process is prohibitive to use.

Last year, Congress directed the GAO to study this issue and submit an interim report by March 1.

Strengthen the ESEA

ESEA is the federal government's single biggest commitment to education, providing $12 billion in funding to the states, districts, and schools to ensure opportunities and success for all children.

The programs in ESEA include Title I, Eisenhower Professional Development, Title VI, innovative strategies, bilingual education, Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities, Impact Aid, and others.

Although ESEA expires Sept. 30, 1999, the reauthorization process is not expected to be completed until next year. However, the basic premises and legislative direction probably will be set in 1999.

Throughout the course of the congressional debate on reauthorizing ESEA, Congress likely will consider adding a voucher program, and there will be proposals to eliminate categorical aid and instead deliver federal funds in the form of block grants.

NSBA's recommendations for the reauthorization of ESEA call for the federal government to help school districts achieve the following results:

• Raise academic achievement for all students through state and locally driven initiatives, including standards-setting; strategic planning; meaningful assessments; and aligning curriculum and professional development to meet high standards.
• Develop accountability models to serve children and inform the public.
• Close the achievement gap between minority and limited-English-proficient students and other students.
• Improve the coordination of federally funded programs at the local level by expanding early childhood programs, waiving regulations for local school districts, allowing locally directed program consolidations, and expanding school district capacity to combine various educational and social service programs.