Clinton Unveils $420-Million Education Plan : Schools: The proposal calls for national learning standards. Educators have given the program broad support, but local officials fear a loss of control.

The Clinton Administration Wednesday unveiled its $420-million plan for improving the nation’s educational system and was immediately met with expressions of approval from some educators but wariness from Republicans and some local government officials concerned about erosion of local control over schools.

Although the proposal marks a significant departure from the George Bush Administration’s philosophy of leaving educational matters largely in the hands of state and local governments, it would establish voluntary national educational standards favored by Bush.

There are some major differences: The Clinton plan does not include Bush’s proposed controversial voucher system designed to help parents pay for private or parochial education for their children. It does, however, take a step that Bush had declined to take and addresses so-called “quality” issues, such as recommendations for class size.

The proposal marks a willingness on the part of the Clinton Administration to give the federal government far more control over education than it has ever enjoyed. But there is relatively little money behind the effort. Most of the funds--$393 million--would be used for grants to help schools achieve the educational goals.

Education Secretary Richard W. Riley said during a news conference that the package, to be introduced in Congress this week, will focus on such issues as “improved professional development for teachers, increased parental and community involvement, increased flexibility from burdensome regulations” and greater accountability for schools.

Specifically, in addition to creating voluntary national educational standards, the plan calls for establishing curriculum programs that would lead to trade certificates for secondary school students who do not go on to college.

Under the proposal, titled “Goals 2000: Educate America,” the Administration would create a 20-member National Education Standards and Improvement Council to monitor progress toward the educational goals and to help create the national standards.

The council would be overseen by the National Education Goals Panel, a bipartisan group composed of two members appointed by the President, eight governors, four members of Congress and four members of state legislatures.

State and local communities would design their own strategies for meeting the educational goals, and the national panels would monitor whether they had done so.

Of all the provisions in the plan, it is the concept of national standards that has generated the most controversy. The standards would assess the quality of a school’s teaching environment by measuring, among other things, the expertise of teachers, the access for teachers and administrators to professional development courses and the availability of computers and other advanced, technological classroom tools.

Although the concept has received broad support from educators, local officials fear that the establishment of such standards would erode their cherished freedom to decide how to educate children.

Rep. Bill Goodling (R-Pa.), the ranking Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee, expressed concerns that setting such standards “could lead to the federal government dictating how schools will teach.”