For Immediate Release
May 24, 2001
Contact: Frank X. Custer
(202) 225-6111
(610) 272-8400

Hoeffel Legislation Passes House As Part Of Major Education Bill

Washington, DC (May 24, 2001) – The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday passed legislation introduced by Rep. Joseph M. Hoeffel (D-PA/13) that would give school districts the flexibility to use federal education dollars for costs associated with leave time for teachers undergoing computer and technology training.

Hoeffel introduced the legislation as a bill in the last Congress, and successfully offered it as an amendment to the sweeping education bill passed by the House on Wednesday. The Hoeffel amendment passed by a voice vote earlier in the day with the support of the Republican committee chairman.

Hoeffel said he drafted the legislation after visiting scores of schools in Montgomery County and conducting a survey that showed the problem was not a lack of computers and up-to-date technology, but teachers who were not sufficiently computer literate to use the technology to its fullest potential.

"Most Montgomery County schools have invested in computers," Hoeffel said, "but some of the teachers are not as computer savvy as some of their students and are not able to use the technology to its utmost."

Hoeffel went on to explain that while training courses are available and teachers are willing to take the training, school districts do not have the ability to use federal funds to cover the associated costs of leave time including the hiring of substitute teachers to replace regular teachers while they are in computer training.

"This bipartisan education bill which I supported is called the ‘Leave No Child Behind Act’," he said. "My amendment ‘leaves no teacher behind’."

Earlier in the debate on the education bill, Hoeffel joined a bipartisan majority to oppose an effort that would have gutted the bill of its annual student testing requirements.

"One of the strengths of this legislation is that federal funding is predicated on student performance measured by annual testing,’ Hoeffel said.

The bill (HR 1), which passed the House by a 384-45 vote, is a bipartisan compromise version of President Bush’s education proposals intended to hold schools accountable for academic achievement of their students. The measure includes a requirement that students in grades three through eight be tested annually in math and reading, provides school districts with much greater flexibility in how they use federal funds and provides financial and technical help to low-performing schools.

The bill authorizes $22.8 billion in the FY2002 budget, about $5 billion more than was appropriated in FY2001. Other highlights of the bill include:

• $11.5 billion for Title I grants for FY2002 and increasing amounts over the next four years. The $17.2 billion authorized for FY2006 is twice what was appropriated this year.
• A number of provisions intended to hold school accountable for academic achievement including state, school district and school "report cards" to parents and the public on school performance and teacher qualification. The bill authorizes $400 million in FY2002 for a program to help states develop and administer their own standards and assessments.
• $3.6 billion in FY2002, and such sums as may be necessary in the following four years, for teacher training and recruitment, including a formula state grant program and a Math and Science Partnership Act. The state grant program would fund many of the activities previously authorized by the Eisenhower Professional Development and Class Size Reduction programs, both of which are discontinued under this bill. The FY2001 appropriations for those programs were $1.9 billion.