Budget Talks Yield $1 Billion for Schools

The 11th-hour budget talks between Congress and the White House are likely to produce an election-year infusion of more than $1 billion in additional federal aid to education--far more than most people expected with Republicans in charge on Capitol Hill.

In acceding to the spending hike sought by President Clinton, GOP budget negotiators have demonstrated the increasing importance both parties attach to the education issue, which polls consistently have shown tops voter concerns.

But one key question looms--how the extra money would be spent. Clinton wants the $1.1 billion used specifically for hiring 100,000 new teachers to reduce class sizes. Republicans want the money appropriated with no strings attached, so that local school boards can decide how to use it.

This dispute was being hashed out Monday as congressional and White House negotiators neared agreement on a government-wide budget pact that would clear the way for lawmakers to adjourn this year.

“We have a significant difference in philosophy but we have basically already agreed on the amount of money to be spent” on education, said Assistant Senate Majority Leader Don Nickles (R-Okla.).

The GOP position marks a significant shift for the party, whose education agenda had focused not on additional spending but on measures--such as tax incentives or school vouchers--designed to help parents send their children to private school, if they choose.

As they negotiate with the administration, the Republicans also are insisting that the new education money be offset with spending cuts elsewhere in the federal budget. That could prove an additional stumbling block.

Clinton made another pitch for his education proposal Monday before leaving Washington for a fund-raiser in New York. “I believe we can reach across the political divisions here in Washington to take the steps we must to reduce class size, to hire more teachers and modernize our classrooms,” he said. “This should not be a partisan issue.”

Final Impediment to Adjournment

The jockeying over education policy came as top administration and congressional officials continued negotiations over key elements of the sprawling budget measure. That legislation, needed to keep the government operating for the next year, is the last major obstacle keeping Congress from adjourning for the year so members can go home and campaign for reelection.

In addition to education policy, negotiators are struggling to resolve differences between Republicans and Clinton on a wide range of policies, including abortion, the environment and how to conduct the 2000 census. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said enough progress had been made that the final budget could be ready for the House and Senate to approve by Wednesday.

In related action Monday:

* The House by voice vote passed a bill cutting taxes by $9.2 billion over the next 10 years. That is a pale shadow of the $80 billion five-year tax cut that recently passed the House and died in the Senate. The stripped-down bill extends a variety of credits set to expire this year for businesses, farmers and the self-employed.

* White House and congressional negotiators reached tentative agreement on a deal to provide $18 billion to the International Monetary Fund, which in turn would use the money to aid struggling foreign economies. Under the compromise, the IMF would have to charge more for its loans, impose new deadlines on repayment and offer fuller disclosure of its own finances. But the final terms remained under debate late Monday. Congress has withheld the money requested by Clinton, with GOP critics blasting the IMF’s handling of the global financial crisis.

* Congress passed another temporary spending bill to keep the government funded through midnight Wednesday, replacing a stopgap measure that had been due to expire midnight on Monday. Clinton signed the measure Monday night while on a campaign fund-raising trip to New York.

Republican maneuvering on education spending is the latest in a series of efforts to strengthen the party’s position on the politically potent issue. When the GOP first took over Congress in the 1994 elections, Republicans called for abolishing the U.S. Department of Education and for deep cuts in education spending--positions that did not prevail and proved politically unpopular.

For the last two years, Republicans have been trying to develop a more positive education agenda around the idea that the best way to improve local schools is to empower parents to change them or leave them. To that end, Republicans have passed bills to provide vouchers to help children attend private schools and to provide tax breaks for families who save for elementary and secondary education--both of which have been bitterly opposed by Clinton.

Clinton tried to throw the GOP on the defensive again last week when, as budget talks entered their final phase, he insisted on his education agenda, including his $1.1 billion proposal to reduce class sizes. He has also pushed a proposal to provide new tax subsidies for renovating existing schools and building new ones.

Republicans responded by proposing--in public and in the closed-door talks with the administration--that the $1.1 billion be channeled instead into an existing block grant program that would allow school districts to decide whether to use the money for hiring teachers or for some other need, such as computers or books.

“It helps move us off the dime, from looking like a party that is just interested in school choice initiatives,” said one GOP strategist. “These other types of proposals show we are willing to fund education but we want to do it our way.”

Another major education issue to be resolved in the budget talks is the fate of Clinton’s proposal to develop voluntary national testing for math and reading. House Republicans want to block the initiative as part of this year’s budget.

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Times staff writers Marc Lacey and Jonathan Peterson contributed to this story.