Congress OKs Overhaul of Public Schools

Congress gave final approval Tuesday to legislation that establishes the broadest federal testing requirements yet for elementary and middle schools, provides billions of dollars to help needy students learn basic skills and prescribes new options for those stuck in languishing schools.

Capping a yearlong debate on education reform, Tuesday’s Senate vote of 87 to 10 and the House vote last week of 381 to 41 provided an overwhelming bipartisan blessing for legislation President Bush is eager to sign.

The legislation significantly expands the federal government’s role in an education network that has long guarded the primacy of states, school boards, teachers and parents.

In addition, it responds to stark disparities in a 53-million-student system that sends many public high school graduates to the world’s best universities but too often allows others to drop out--or to earn a diploma without becoming proficient in reading and mathematics.

Advocates describe the legislation as the most important overhaul of elementary and secondary education since federal programs began in 1965. They say it lays the groundwork for a movement Bush calls “No child left behind.”

The message “to every parent,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), a leading sponsor: “Help is on the way.”

Bush pledged to sign the bill in January, when the White House can plan a full-scale ceremony without the distractions of the holidays. Next to tax cuts, education had been his top domestic issue before the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 reordered the nation’s agenda.

“These historic reforms will improve our public schools by creating an environment where every child can learn through real accountability, unprecedented flexibility for states and school districts, greater local control, more options for parents and more funding for what works,” the president said in a prepared statement.

The bill calls for up to $26.4 billion in funding in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, of which $22.3 billion is expected to be actually spent. The spending will mark a 20% increase over the previous year’s level of $18.5 billion.

Bush and congressional Republicans agreed to that funding increase in exchange for several changes in education programs.

Under current law, states are required to test students three times to measure progress in reading and math: once in elementary school, once in middle school and once in high school. The bill requires states to intensify those programs by introducing annual reading and math tests in grades three through eight, starting no later than the 2005-2006 school year.

Fifteen states, including California, already meet that requirement. Those states will be eligible for funding to improve their systems.

States will also be required to set 12-year goals for improving the academic proficiency of all groups of students, including those who come from poverty, speak limited English or are disadvantaged in other ways. Benchmarks would be set by states. The bill requires all states to test sample groups of fourth-graders and eighth-graders through the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

The key accountability provisions call for states to identify schools that need more assistance. Districts will have to submit annual “report cards” comparing each school’s standardized test scores and teacher qualifications with those of other schools, both locally and statewide. In schools that show a persistent lack of progress, districts would have to use their federal money to offer students transportation to better public schools or provide assistance through outside tutoring agencies, which could include faith-based groups. In extreme cases, districts could be ordered to replace a school’s entire staff.

Depending on how strictly they are carried out, those requirements could have a significant effect on districts in Southern California, such as Los Angeles Unified, that have many low-performing schools.

But California would also be in line for new funding. Los Angeles County schools, for instance, would get a 38% boost in funding for disadvantaged students, amounting to $80 million a year. More money would flow to the state to teach children with limited English skills, to teach students in primary grades to read and to get qualified teachers into classrooms.

The bill also cuts bureaucracy, shrinking the number of elementary and secondary education programs to 45 from 55 and giving states and school districts more latitude in spending federal funds.

Passage of the legislation marked a high point for cross-party cooperation in what has been a year of on-again, off-again bipartisanship. Republicans and Democrats lined up to praise the legislation. Nonetheless, there was lingering dissent from the right and the left.

Some conservatives complained that Bush and senior congressional Republicans too quickly jettisoned proposals to give students federal funding to attend private schools. They were unsatisfied with provisions in the bill that for the first time allow federal money to flow to private or religious groups that provide extracurricular tutoring.

Some liberals argued that, without more funding, reforms meant to hold schools accountable for results will only guarantee national embarrassment in coming years, as thousands of schools fall short. Already, nearly 3,000 schools are expected to land on a target list for remedial action starting in September.

“No doubt some low-performing schools will improve in response to the threat of sanctions,” said Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, one of six Democrats who voted against the bill. “But in the great majority of our schools, threats alone will not succeed.”

Wellstone also contended that the federal government is shortchanging schools by refusing to guarantee billions of dollars in new funding for disabled students. States and local school districts, struggling this year with education budget cuts, must pay whatever Washington does not for special education programs.

Three Republicans and one independent also opposed the bill. California’s two Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, voted for it.

For all its proposed changes, the bill represents only a vision of reform. Making it reality could prove difficult. In 1994, Congress also enacted federal expansions of student testing and school accountability. Those measures, more limited than provisions in the current bill, were hailed as a breakthrough, but they were only partially implemented in many states.

A particular challenge is the decentralized nature of public education. Unlike the Pentagon, which has a chain of command linking the Defense secretary to everyone in the armed services, the Education Department cannot simply order teachers, principals and superintendents to carry out a federal plan--even though it does wield the threat of curtailing federal funds.

Instead, Education Secretary Rod Paige will have to continuously cajole state and local officials to adhere to the federal blueprint. That effort is already underway, Paige said Tuesday.

“We’re going to have a hands-on approach and a partnership approach with the states in implementing the law,” he said.