Congress OKs Education Bill That Aids States

Congress approved its first substantive legislation of the year Wednesday, a measure that would give states more freedom in how they spend federal education dollars.

The House approved the “Ed-Flex” bill, 368 to 57, and the Senate followed, 98 to 1, with many lawmakers saying the shootings at a Denver area high school Tuesday further justifies the need to work for better schools.

President Clinton said he will sign it “without delay.”

“I am particularly pleased that the conference report strengthens accountability measures and preserves our effort to reduce class size in the early grades,” Clinton said in a statement released by the White House.

Republicans also hailed the bill’s passage.

The bill would enable states and school districts to be released from some rules that ordinarily must be met to obtain federal funding. In exchange, they would have to set up their own programs under which they would be accountable for better educational results.

It would expand to all 50 states and the District of Columbia a demonstration program set up in 1994 that was limited to 12 states.

To avoid a presidential veto, a House-Senate conference abandoned a provision promoted by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) that Democrats said would undermine Clinton’s drive to hire 100,000 new teachers to reduce class sizes.

Lott’s measure would have let schools take some of the $1.2 billion allocated for this year to hire some of the 100,000 teachers and spend it instead on special education needs. In place of that, the bill says small districts with class sizes of 18 or fewer students may join with other districts to use the money for teacher training.

To participate in the Ed-Flex program, states would have to apply to the Education secretary for a waiver from the normal rules, explaining what educational goals would be achieved and how progress toward those goals would be evaluated. The waiver could be revoked after three years if the secretary concludes that the state is not meeting its objectives.