[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 102 (Friday, July 29, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 29, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
   OPPOSITION TO THE SIMON AMENDMENT NO. 2423 ON A LONGER SCHOOL YEAR

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I want to voice my disagreement with an 
amendment to S. 1513, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which 
was accepted last night. I recognize that there are enormous time 
pressures on the managers of these kinds of measures to expedite 
consideration of various amendments, but we continue to pass these 
kinds of amendments for new spending without meaningful scrutiny. This 
amendment in particular caught my attention because I simply don't 
believe in this time of enormous fiscal constraints, we should be 
spending scarce Federal dollars for this purpose.
  The Simon amendment, which allows the Secretary of the Department of 
Education to award grants to school districts that want to implement 
longer school years, is authorized at $100 million. A few hours 
earlier, I met with educators from my State who expressed their 
opposition to the Simon amendment, and the concept of a longer school 
year. This proposal is advanced by those who believe that American 
schools ought to operate in every facet like schools in Japan and 
Germany. They are vested in a largely unfounded belief that a longer 
school year will magically result in higher academic achievement for 
our students. Standing on its own, a longer school year will not yield 
better results, without regard for rigorous concentration on core 
academic subjects, or any consideration for spending more time each day 
in the classroom. This is, I believe, another ``quick fix,'' a 
superficial cosmetic concept that will do little to improve classroom 
instruction and learning.
  Given scarce resources within the context of a Federal education 
program that is struggling to define its proper role in State and local 
education systems, the use of Federal resources for the purpose of 
lengthening the school year is an inappropriate expenditure. If school 
districts want to have a longer school year, then let them choose the 
resource--local, State, or Federal. My view is the limited Federal 
resources ought to be focused on results yielding programs and 
policies--many of which are already contained in S. 1513, like 
professional development for teachers, national education goals for 
math and science, Head Start, title I for economically and 
educationally disadvantaged students, educational technology, and 
women's educational equity programs.

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