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- Focusing on results and increasing
accountability in education, especially for our nation's poorest
children, is one of Jennifer's chief concerns. She believes that
all funding directed toward our classrooms needs to include
measurable standards to help educationally-disadvantaged students
achieve the same high performance levels as all other students.
That is why she supported HR 2, The Student Results Act,
which will provide assistance to low-achieving students. Because
Jennifer believes that education is the great equalizer of
opportunity, she supports approaches that work to ensure that no
child is left behind.
- Jennifer believes that providing
states and schools with flexibility to spend federal resources
where they are most needed, and granting freedom from regulation
in exchange for accountability, will produce the best results for
our children in education. Straight A's (HR 2300), which
she fought to get passed, is a pilot program to give states and
local school districts the option of establishing a five-year
performance agreement that loosens up strings and bureaucratic red
tape that comes with federal education dollars to focus on results
instead. Participating states would be held to strict
accountability requirements for student achievement. States that
do not meet performance goals would return to the regulated
program structure.
- Increasing education opportunities
for the disabled, and fulfilling the federal mandate to fund
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), was
a top education spending priority for Jennifer. She continues to
insist that the federal government support our state and local
school districts by providing appropriate access for all young
people to attend school and receive a good education. This year's
final education budget includes a $700 million increase for
Special Education State Grants, bringing the total to $5.8
billion.
- Jennifer continued her push to return
authority and education resources to the local level by supporting
H.Res. 303, the Dollars to the Classroom Resolution, which
passed the House by a vote of 421 - 5. She believes that a greater
percentage of federal education tax dollars should be spent in our
children's classrooms, not in the U.S. Department of Education
bureaucracy. This resolution sets the goal of ensuring that at
least 90 percent of federal elementary and secondary education
funds will be spent in the classroom.
- Believing that a well-trained teacher
is the best asset in the classroom, Jennifer supported the
Teacher Empowerment Act, which provides a boost to schools
in their efforts to establish and support a high quality teaching
force. Jennifer believes that initiatives to improve teacher
quality are imperative to improving student performance and to
keeping our best teachers in the classroom. By combining several
current federal education programs, this initiative will provide
states and localities with the support and flexibility they need
to provide quality training, such as programs to promote tenure
reform, teacher testing, merit-based teacher performance systems,
mentoring, and in-service teacher academies. The overall goal is
to enhance teacher accountability with a focus on results
demonstrated by improved student performance.
- Jennifer continues to believe that
all who want to attend college should have access to financial
assistance if they need it. For this reason she pushed for more
funding this year for the Pell Grant program, which
provides higher education vouchers for needy students so that
youth from disadvantaged backgrounds will have the support to
attend college. This year the maximum Pell Grant available to a
student was increased by $175 over last year, bringing the maximum
award to $3,300, which is the highest in history.
- Knowing of the need not only for
smaller classrooms, but also for well-trained teachers in the
classroom, Jennifer fought for flexible spending for school
districts in the President's class size reduction program. As
a result of this effort, local education agencies can now decide
for themselves whether to hire more teachers or better train their
existing staff with some of this funding. To ensure accountability
in the new program, state and local educational agencies must
publicly report to parents on the progress in reducing class size,
increasing the percentage of classes in core academic areas taught
by fully-qualified teachers, and the impact that these activities
are having on increasing student academic achievement. This
hard-fought achievement supports Jennifer's objective to allow for
further education spending flexibility in exchange for
accountability.
- The Taxpayer Refund and Relief Act,
vetoed by President Clinton, would have increased the contribution
limit to state pre-paid tuition plans to $2,000 per year and make
expenditures from these plans allowable for elementary and
secondary education. It would also allow private institutions to
establish similar tax-deferred pre-paid tuition plans. The
increasing costs of higher education, and the desire for
more choices in elementary and secondary education, is causing
severe hardships on families. Parents who want the best education
for their children, but who need help in planning for the costs,
are looking for ways to make a quality education for their kids a
reality. Hard-working parents, particularly single mothers, do not
want to be limited in their educational choices by
excessive tuition costs. Jennifer believes we should free parents
to make educational decisions based on the quality of the
education being offered, not the cost of that education. No parent
wants to settle for second best when it comes to their children's
future.
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