[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 35 (Friday, February 24, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E432-E433]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                          AMENDING GOALS 2000

                                 ______


                        HON. WILLIAM F. GOODLING

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 24, 1995
  Mr. GOODLING. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing legislation to 
amend Goals 2000 and the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994 [IASA] 
to eliminate the National Education Standards and Improvement Council 
[NESIC] and to remove references to opportunity to learn standards or 
strategies, provisions that interfere with traditional state and local 
control of education. Twenty-six Members are joining as original 
cosponsors of this legislation.
  Public education in this country is the constitutional and historic 
responsibility of the States and of local school districts. Federal 
involvement in education is conditioned on respect for that 
relationship and, consequently, is limited. Occasionally, Congress 
enacts legislation that fails to respect these limitations on Federal 
action. When that happens, it is our responsibility to revisit those 
laws and to remove the provisions that intrude on state and local 
control.
  The Goals 2000 legislation and the Improving America's Schools Act of 
1994 [IASA], both passed in the 103d Congress, contain provisions that 
violate the traditional limits on Federal involvement in education. The 
National Education Standards and Improvement Council [NESIC], created 
by Goals 2000, is a body to be appointed by the President that has the 
mission of reviewing and certifying national education standards and 
State standards that are voluntarily submitted to it. The distance 
between standards and curriculum is not very great. There is a 
prohibition on the 
[[Page E433]] Federal Government dictating curriculum to States and 
school districts in the legislation creating the Department of 
Education, and there is also good reason to be wary of Federal 
involvement in certifying education standards. The seriously flawed and 
justifiably controversial history standards illustrate how the 
standards-setting process can go awry and point out the dangers of 
having a Presidentially appointed, unaccountable body certifying 
standards.
  Standards-based reform remains one of the most promising strategies 
for improving education for all children in our Nation. Of course, 
these must be rigorous academic standards and not vague and fuzzy 
attempts to shape students' attitudes and values, matters that should 
be left to parents. The most important standards development must take 
place in our communities and school districts. States and national 
organizations can assist this process by creating model standards. 
However, Federal certification of these standards is not necessary for 
this process to be effective or constructive.
  In addition, both Goals 2000 and IASA contain references to 
``opportunity to learn'' [OTL] standards, including funds for the 
development of model national opportunity to learn standards and a 
requirement that states develop opportunity to learn standards or 
strategies. OTL is nothing more than a euphemism for decisions about 
spending and resources in schools and school districts. Nothing could 
do more injury to state and local control of education than injecting 
the Federal Government into dictating decisions about the allocation of 
funds and other resources in local school districts.
  This legislation, which eliminates the National Education Standards 
and Improvement Council and strikes all references to opportunity to 
learn standards or strategies from both Goals 2000 and IASA, will put a 
stop to an unwarranted Federal intrusion into education and preserve 
traditional State and local control of this vital enterprise. I urge my 
colleagues to support and cosponsor this bill.


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