[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 4, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S971-S972]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

                                 ______
                                 

          COSPONSORSHIP OF THE SAFE AND AFFORDABLE SCHOOLS ACT

 Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, I rise today to cosponsor Senate 
bill S. 1, the Safe and Affordable Schools Act. I do so because I am 
convinced that we owe our children the opportunity to learn in a safe 
environment and that our children should not find the door to higher 
education closed to them by high costs. This legislation will help 
children from low income families escape unsafe schools and at the same 
time help parents and their children better afford higher education.
  We have a crisis in our schools, Mr. President. According to one 
recent study, 2,000 acts of violence are committed every hour in our 
classrooms. The study also found that high percentages of students have 
changed their daily routine because of personal safety concerns, and 
that most students say they could obtain marijuana

[[Page S972]]

within a day if they wished. Drugs and violence have no place in our 
schools alongside math and history.
  To address this problem, the Safe and Affordable Schools Act 
authorizes $50 million for fiscal year 1998 school choice pilot 
programs. These moneys may be used to develop, establish, and operate 
programs to protect children who have been victims of, or witnesses to, 
violence in our elementary and secondary schools. To encourage local 
safety measures, the act gives priority to programs providing for 
suspension, delay, or restriction of driving privileges for minors 
found to be using drugs.
  Mr. President, poor kids in this country should have the same right 
to attend a safe school as their more well-off counterparts. That is 
why school choice programs are essential. This bill provides funding 
for pilot programs and also for broader school choice vouchers to give 
parents in our less affluent areas a chance to send their children to 
good schools.
  Unfortunately, Mr. President, too many kids who graduate from high 
school find the doors to higher education closed to them by sky-high 
costs. Public college and university tuition alone has risen 234 
percent over the last 15 years. This has put too tight a squeeze on 
students and their parents as they seek the opportunities only higher 
education can provide in our country.
  To make higher education more affordable for students in college and 
for parents saving for their children's education, this legislation 
provides a number of rational, cost-effective tax incentives. To begin 
with, Mr. President, this bill establishes the Bob Dole education 
investment account. Parents would be able to contribute $1,000 per year 
to this account, and would be eligible to establish an account for each 
child. The savings will be significant. If a parent puts aside $1,000 
at the time a child is born, and contributes $1,000 every year until 
the child is 18, the investment account would contain $34,000 to pay 
college costs.
  And this legislation offers further help to parents and students. It 
excludes from taxation educational assistance provided by employers. It 
also excludes any prepaid higher education disbursement from the State. 
In addition, the bill would make student loan interest deductible, up 
to a maximum of $2,500 per year. Finally, the bill would exclude from 
gross income any moneys received through Federal work study programs.
  These provisions will make higher education more affordable. They 
will keep the doors of opportunity open for all Americans. Combined 
with school choice measures, they will go a long way toward 
establishing the equality of opportunity for which our country always 
has been known.
  I urge my colleagues to support this worthwhile legislation.

                          ____________________