GOP School Reform Would Cut Controls

California and other states would be free to shed federal controls on school spending in exchange for signing a five-year agreement to improve student achievement under legislation announced Tuesday by Republican leaders in Congress.

The plan to create “charter states”--stealing a page from the popular concept of regulation-free charter schools--is the GOP’s answer to President Clinton’s call earlier this year to reshape the federal role in education.

The Republicans and the Democratic president both claim that their reform proposals would advance the cause of school “accountability,” the increasingly popular notion that taxpayers should get results for their investment in public schools.

Question of Funding Remains Undecided

While Clinton would enlarge Washington’s role in school affairs--by requiring low-performing schools to shape up or risk losing federal dollars--Republicans would reduce it, by granting states the power to lump money together from various federal programs to spend as they see fit.

Overhanging the long-range issue of how Washington spends its education money is the more immediate question of how much money there will be to spend. Typically, federal education spending amounts to less than a dime of every public dollar spent on education in the nation. But this year the Republican-led Congress, straining to adhere to a stringent budget-balancing plan, is considering cuts of as much as 12% in the money available for education. The prospect of such politically painful cuts is likely to make education a potent issue next fall when the White House and Congress negotiate a budget agreement.

But on Tuesday the Republicans had the stage to themselves. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi and a clutch of Republican senators and representatives made the most of the occasion, basking under sunny skies and surrounded by smiling schoolchildren eager to begin summer vacation. A school bus was parked behind the lectern, with the Capitol as a backdrop.

“This is a responsible approach to awarding federal education funding,” Hastert said. “It’s also a historic step forward so that local, state and federal partnerships develop and no child is left behind--whether she’s the valedictorian or a student struggling to simply learn the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic.”

The Clinton administration swiftly denounced the GOP plan as a scheme to undermine popular programs, such as class-size reduction, and drain funding from students in impoverished neighborhoods who need it most. Education Secretary Richard W. Riley said that Republicans are grasping for “quick fixes and silver-bullet solutions.” Instead, he said, Washington should use its leverage to help “improve teacher quality, fix failing schools and end social promotion.”

The debate over federal school programs, likely to play a key role in the 2000 elections, has emerged as Congress considers rewriting the main U.S. law on elementary and secondary education for the first time since 1994. Part of that law is an $8-billion-per-year program launched in the 1960s and known as Title I, which is the foundation of federal efforts to help disadvantaged students learn basic skills.

Whether and how to overhaul Title I are questions that may come to a head in the next year as Congress and the administration confront statistics showing that millions of schoolchildren are not competent in reading and math. Any proposed solutions are sure to draw fire from powerful education groups, education critics or both.

The GOP plan announced Tuesday--drawn up by Rep. William F. Goodling (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.)--would expand significantly on a law enacted with bipartisan support earlier this year that granted states freedom from certain regulations as they spend federal education money. The key difference between that law, known as “Ed-Flex,” and the new proposal: States would be able to combine resources from some or all of the federal school programs they administer, including such initiatives as Title I, teacher training, technology literacy, school safety, vocational education and class-size reduction.

States Would Outline Goals

They could then spend the money on “any educational activity permitted by state law,” according to a Republican fact sheet, provided that they assure students of civil rights protections and that they have systems in place to measure student progress.

To qualify, states would have to submit proposals to the U.S. Education Department with specific goals for improving student achievement within five years. The department would monitor progress every year. Those states that fail to meet their goals would be forced to submit again to federal regulations on how to spend money. But those that show significant improvement could qualify for a bonus--and remain exempt from much federal bureaucracy.

A perennial flash point in congressional debate over schools is whether the government will support publicly funded vouchers to help pay private school tuition. Many Republicans favor vouchers to help give poor parents more school choice. Many Democrats oppose them as a drain on already-scarce resources for public education.

Administration officials said that the GOP plan could prop up state voucher programs, such as one recently enacted in Florida. Asked whether his bill would prohibit federal funding of vouchers, Goodling said: “I’m not sure how much we’ve thought about that.”