Education Bill Wins Bipartisan OK

Congress passed bipartisan legislation Thursday aimed at showing its support for education--deemed one of the top priorities of American voters--and at demonstrating that Republicans and Democrats can work together in the wake of last month’s impeachment trial.

House passage of the so-called ed-flex bill, designed to provide more flexibility for local school districts in using federal education grants, came on an overwhelming 330-90 vote.

A few hours later, the Senate approved similar legislation, 98 to 1.

Both Republicans and Democrats hailed the actions as historic. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said the vote Thursday “clearly puts progress ahead of partisanship.” Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) also hailed the two-party cooperation.

But there was less bipartisanism than met the eye. Although the bill, intended to cut red tape for local districts seeking federal aid, was popular in both parties, Republicans defeated Democratic efforts to tack on President Clinton’s proposal to finance the hiring of 100,000 teachers.

Party-Line Votes Kill Amendments

The Senate became mired in gridlock for more than a week before the GOP leadership finally agreed to permit Democrats to seek votes on the president’s program and several other proposals. Republicans defeated all of them on party-line votes.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), speaking for Senate Democrats, was less effusive about the GOP’s claims for bipartisanship. “The Republicans have pulled an anti-education hat trick,” he told reporters before the final vote. He said the Senate “has missed a golden opportunity” to act.

The measures now go to a joint House-Senate conference committee to resolve minor differences and hammer out a compromise bill that the two houses can approve and send to Clinton for his signature. That process is expected to take one or two weeks.

Federal and state officials said the measure would have little immediate impact in California, which is currently ineligible for the ed-flex program because former Gov. Pete Wilson refused to meet companion requirements for the administration’s Goals 2000 program, a prerequisite for easing red tape.

Teri Burns, deputy state superintendent of schools for external affairs, said California’s new government still has not decided whether to reverse Wilson’s earlier policy. However, even if the state were to qualify, she said, the effect would vary widely among local school districts.

The legislation would expand potentially to all 50 states a 12-state demonstration project begun in 1992 that gives school districts more flexibility in spending federal aid to education--by waiving some federal controls in cases where states agree to oversee the local programs.

But the bill would not increase federal aid levels to local school districts, nor would it waive federal standards involving civil rights and parental involvement. It also would require states to put in place long-term performance standards for evaluating local programs.

The division between the two parties centered on whether the bill should be confined to the ed-flex issue, as Republicans sought, or whether Democrats should be able to broaden it to include the teacher-hiring plan and half a dozen provisions of their own.

Republicans contended that the other issues should be postponed until the Senate takes up legislation to renew the 34-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which expires later this year. Democrats raised fears that the GOP might not give them that chance.

The two houses took widely differing approaches on the dispute. House Republicans refused to allow Democrats to attach the provisions, drafting rules for floor debate that prohibited amendments. Senate Republicans balked at first, then permitted floor votes and defeated the proposals.

By far the key Democratic proposal was Clinton’s previously unveiled plan to help reduce class size in local school districts by providing money to hire 100,000 new teachers--a move that the administration said would cost about $11.4 billion.

Senate Democrats also sought to tack on other provisions authorizing $600 million a year to help finance after-school programs, $500 million for remedial programs in school districts that ban “social promotion” and $150 million a year to help reduce school dropout rates.

But Senate Republicans defeated the Democratic proposals and pushed through alternative measures that would enable local school districts to divert $1.2 billion in grants that Congress appropriated for special education programs and use it instead for other education needs.

They also won approval of a series of amendments that would authorize an additional $1.2 billion in federal grants for special education programs for disabled students in future years. But those funds would be subject to the normal congressional appropriations process.

Measure Backed by Various Groups

The ed-flex measure itself had been pushed vigorously by a broad array of interest groups, from the Democratic and Republican governors’ associations to school administrators’ organizations and teachers’ organizations. Clinton, too, has endorsed the proposal in principle.

The Senate’s weeklong impasse over the ed-flex bill had threatened to throw cold water on pledges by the two parties for a new bipartisanship in Congress. Had the Republicans declined to give Democrats a chance to vote on their proposals, it could have soured prospects for future cooperation.

Even so, analysts said, chances that the two parties will be able to work together enough to push through other major pieces of legislation remain uncertain. Some Congress-watchers said there was enough bickering during the debate over the bill to put that prospect in doubt.