House Approves Bush Plan for Public School Reform

The House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed President Bush’s broad education plan that would require millions of students to take annual reading and math tests. For the first time, the scores could affect how much federal funding schools get and how they spend it.

The 381-41 vote gave Bush a bipartisan victory on what he has said was the top item on his domestic agenda. Senate passage is expected next week, which would allow Bush to sign the measure before Christmas.

Reflecting the bipartisan support for the bill, virtually all of California’s 52-member House delegation voted for it. The exceptions were Reps. Bob Filner (D-San Diego) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), who opposed it, and Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), who did not vote.

“We can no longer accept the level of failure that we have in the past, and this legislation says that we won’t,” said Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), who helped write the bill.

The House and Senate spent months refining the massive Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which provides most of the funding and overall regulation for K-12 education.

Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), who led the committee that forged a compromise between the House and Senate versions, said it would help fulfill the government’s promise of “no more false hope for our children, no more broken promises and no more mixed results.”

In addition to the testing, the bill would require schools to come up with plans to close the achievement gap between students from low-income and middle-class families, as well as between white and minority students.

States and school districts would get more freedom as to how they spend federal dollars. Money intended for teacher improvement, for example, could instead pay for salary increases or additional instructors.

Districts would have to submit annual “report cards” showing a school’s standardized test scores compared with other public schools, locally and statewide.

“It is a giant step forward, but we are still far away from making sure poor children do not end up with a poor quality instructor and poor quality teaching materials,” said Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.).