[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 32 (Monday, March 21, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 21, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                  MEMBERS MUST CLOSELY EXAMINE H.R. 6

  (Mr. THOMAS of Wyoming asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMAS of Wyoming. Mr. Speaker, the House is scheduled to 
continue the consideration of H.R. 6, a bill that was originally 
designed to reauthorize the elementary and secondary education 
programs. Since then, however, it has changed substantially with 
additional Federal mandates placed in it.
  I am very skeptical of this bill, Mr. Speaker, because it mostly 
ignores the primary role of local teachers, administrators, school 
boards, and States in educational quality. This is one of those 
defining issues in which we determine whether you want more Federal 
bureaucracy in the operation of local programs or whether, in fact, you 
believe that local people have a better feel for what they want to do 
with their kids and their schools.
  I am a strong believer in local control of education. It is the core 
of what is right with the system.
  H.R. 6 flies in the face of that tradition: the opportunity-to-learn 
standards, which address conditions in schools, not results, which 
dictate what kinds of things you ought to do, not saying do it to come 
out with the results that are best for your region and your area; 
corrective-action provisions that will target local school district 
governments; over $1 billion in narrow, categorical programs and 
grants; numerous mandates for schools.
  When you add it all up, you get one answer: too much Federal control. 
Once again, the Feds want 60 percent of control for 6 percent of the 
bucks. That is not a good deal for education in this country and our 
schools.
  I urge my colleagues to closely examine H.R. 6.

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