House Gives OK to President’s Education Plan

The House overwhelmingly passed legislation Wednesday designed to enact President Clinton’s plan for improving the performance of the nation’s schoolchildren.

Known as the “Goals 2000: Educate America Act,” the $400-million program is intended as the cornerstone for the Administration’s education and job-training strategy. If passed by the Senate, the bill would radically alter the role of the federal government in education.

Fifty-seven Republicans voted for the measure, which was approved, 307 to 118.

The legislation calls for the creation of a national panel that would oversee development of performance standards for students in math, science, history and geography. The expectation is that those standards would be far more rigorous than they are now.

The measure also would establish national occupational-skills standards, setting the foundation for some of the Administration’s other education and job-training initiatives.

Although the standards would be voluntary, conservative critics argued that the measure could be used by the federal government to usurp the states’ responsibility for the education of their students as well as impose unfunded mandates on states.

“This bill does very little to set goals for American education and even less to make those goals achievable for the states,” argued Rep. Cass Ballenger (R-N.C.). “In reality, the bill creates new and more cumbersome layers of bureaucracy.”

Defenders of the bill, including both Republicans and Democrats, stressed that no state will be forced to participate. Nor will any other federal education dollars be tied to compliance with the standards.

Despite the voluntary nature of the program, Clinton believes that it will be “so sensible and so attractive” that all states will want to take part, said Bill Galston, deputy assistant to the President for domestic affairs.

“This is a grand role for the federal government,” said Education Secretary Richard W. Riley, taking a break from a champagne celebration with his staff. “This sets a tone throughout the country of having a national movement toward high standards for all children.”

By setting the same standards for all children, the measure is intended to reverse a practice of looking the other way when poor and minority children perform at substandard levels. The practice, many educators believe, has eroded public education and robbed many American youths of the skills they need to succeed in today’s complicated and demanding world of work.

“For too long the public schools have given our at-risk kids only the bare minimum,” Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles) said, praising the measure for giving new hope to economically disadvantaged children and children whose families do not speak English at home.

The legislation would provide federal funds to help states and communities achieve the standards, improve teacher training, provide better instructional materials and encourage parental involvement.

The bill specifies that about $400 million would be allocated in fiscal 1994, but Education Department officials said they expect appropriations of only about $100 million in the first year.

“People miss the significance of this because it’s not a lot of money,” said Mike Cohen, a consultant to Riley who led the Administration’s effort to move the legislation through Congress. “This is the leading edge of the federal government’s efforts to reinvent education for the next century.”

By placing a priority on high achievement for all students, the measure would lay the groundwork for the Administration’s proposal for a major overhaul of the federal government’s multibillion-dollar Chapter I program, which is aimed at poor children.

It also would form the foundation for the Administration’s job-training strategy through the creation of a national board to promote the development of occupational-skill standards that define what workers will need to know to succeed in the job market of the future.

Finally, it would complement another proposal by the Administration, known as the School-to-Work initiative. That measure, now under consideration by Congress, would provide federal seed money to encourage states and localities to develop programs offering young people on-the-job training in vocational skills.

Together, the measures are designed to help meet the needs of the 75% of Americans who do not get college degrees and are often unprepared for high-wage jobs.

“The combination of Goals 2000 and School-to-Work will be a giant step forward toward taking their needs seriously and helping them build solid economic futures,” Galston said.