[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 132 (Monday, September 29, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10151-S10152]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    WHY A PRIVATE SCHOOL VOUCHER PLAN FOR D.C. SCHOOLS IS A BAD IDEA

  Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, tomorrow morning the Senate will vote on 
the creation of the first federally funded private school voucher 
program in the Nation.
  It is no accident that this new voucher program is being debated on 
the D.C. appropriations bill. None of us has a constituency in the 
District of Columbia. We can do anything to the District, and we are 
unaccountable to its voters for our actions. And in recent years, 
Congress has done quite a bit to the District of Columbia.
  Two years ago, in recognition of poor city management and extreme 
budgetary problems, Congress created a financial control board to help 
get the city back on its fiscal feet. Not quite a year ago, the control 
board announced the formation of an emergency management team for the 
city's schools. The elected school board was relieved of its authority. 
The superintendent was urged to resign, and a new team was established, 
which is headed by retired Gen. Julius Becton.
  General Becton signed on for a 3-year tour of duty in D.C. schools, 
yet before even a full year has passed, Congress is poised to pull the 
rug out from under him by creating a private school voucher plan.
  Supporters of private school vouchers prefer to call them school 
choice. But parents don't choose the schools their children will 
attend. Private schools select the children they will accept. This is 
not a luxury our public schools enjoy. Public schools are committed to 
providing an education to all children: To children who come to school 
at any time of the year, to children with disabilities, to children 
whose primary language is not English, to children with disciplinary 
problems, and to children with low IQ's.
  Private schools have the ability to select the smartest, the least 
difficult students with the fewest challenges to overcome. Supporters 
of the voucher plan point out that there are a number of inner-city, 
parochial schools that take whatever child comes to the door. There is 
no doubt that parochial schools have an important role to play and are 
doing a good job, but that does not mean that they should receive 
Federal funding. It does not mean that they have taken on all of the 
obligations of our public schools.
  I believe that it is wrong to provide Federal dollars to private or 
parochial schools to enable them to skim the best students from the 
public schools. Vouchers also would skim the students whose parents are 
involved in their child's education, leaving the public schools with 
the greatest challenges.

[[Page S10152]]

  Supporters of the voucher plan say District of Columbia should 
provide choices to parents. They say District of Columbia should have 
charter schools. They call for partnerships between city schools and 
the Smithsonian Institution. The truth is that District of Columbia has 
all of these things. The District has public school choice. There is a 
charter school program at a school not six blocks from the Capitol. 
Down the street there is a middle school which has entered into a 
partnership with the Smithsonian. D.C. public schools are the only 
public schools in the area that provide an all day kindergarten 
program, and every high school in the District is a magnet school.
  A lot of attention has been paid to the fact that the schools didn't 
open on time this year, and Congress is not without responsibility for 
the delay. But very little mention has been made of the rigorous 
standards that have been put into place in every school, here. Starting 
this school year, teachers, parents, and students have a clear idea of 
what the children should know at each grade level. Last week, students 
all across the District were tested in reading, math, and language arts 
to see what level they are at. At the end of the school year, they will 
be tested again, to assess their progress. The performance of teachers 
and principal also will be based on these assessments. The pressure is 
on not to let a single child slip through the cracks, and I think that 
is an enormous step in the right direction.
  Teachers and principals are turning up the heat on parents, as well. 
Parents of students in D.C. public schools are signing compacts, 
agreeing to be full participants in their child's education. They are 
visiting classrooms, to see first-hand what and how their children are 
learning. They are becoming responsible for making sure their children 
do their homework, and parents are being asked to check the work and 
sign it. They are being asked to read to their children regularly. I 
ask unanimous consent that an article from the Washington Post, dated 
September 28, 1997, about back to school night at a local school be 
printed in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (See exhibit 1.)
  Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, these are improvements that will help all 
of the students in the District of Columbia schools, not just 3 percent 
of the students. Let's support what works for all of the children, not 
just a handful of them. That's the point of public education.
  I plan to vote against the voucher plan and urge my colleagues to do 
the same. Let's send a clear message to General Becton and the 
teachers, parents, and students in D.C. schools: We support your 
efforts to make your local schools better for everyone.

                               Exhibit 1

               [From the Washington Post, Sept. 28, 1997]

                        Back to Work for Schools

                         (By Courtland Milloy)

       ``Good evening,'' W. Irene Woodard, the Watkins Elementary 
     School principal, said melodically. The parents seated before 
     her nodded politely.
       ``I said, `Good evening,' '' Woodard repeated, not so sweet 
     as before. ``When I say, `Good evening,' I expect you to 
     sing.''
       It was Back to School Night, and apparently I wasn't the 
     only parent feeling somewhat demoralized by the delayed 
     opening of D.C. public schools. No school for the first three 
     weeks of September, and then, when it did start last week, 
     some schools still had not received all of the necessary 
     books and supplies.
       ``Don't look so dreary,'' said Channita Fraser, the Watkins 
     PTA president. ``When you come to meetings, smile.'' She 
     began to sing in Spanish, ``The more we get together, the 
     happier we'll be.''
       People like Woodard and Fraser made it hard for me to just 
     sit and stew in my juices. The way they saw it, there was no 
     time for sulking or complaining. Our children needed help, 
     and they needed it fast.
       ``Because of the delay in the opening of school, we're 
     going to need parental cooperation like never before,'' said 
     Ellen Costello, who heads PTA fund-raising for Watkins.
       To make sure it gets the resources it needs, an abundance 
     of candy and holiday wrapping paper must be sold. Parents 
     with the means could make donations directly to their 
     children's classrooms, she said.
       ``Last year, we raised $22,000,'' Costello told the 
     parents. ``The money was used to fix up the school library. 
     But more is needed to purchase copy paper and make copy 
     machine repairs. We're also trying to get water coolers for 
     each classroom. Remember, we live in the District of 
     Columbia, and we don't have much money.''
       That notion--that we live in the District, ergo, we don't 
     have much money--was going to take me more than one Back to 
     School Night to get used to. The tax bite out of my paycheck 
     said otherwise. D.C. public schools get more than $500 
     million a year to educate about 78,000 students. You'd think 
     we'd have all the amenities of an elite private school.
       Instead, I was told, my third-grader would be expected to 
     take on the equivalent of a part-time job as a candy bar 
     salesman just so his school could get money to buy supplies. 
     But there I go being negative again.
       ``We had 142 students who sold something last year,'' 
     Costello reported. ``That's only a 33 percent participation 
     rate, and we need to raise it.''
       I was particularly impressed with my child's teacher, 
     Kimberly Sakai. She's from Hawaii. This is her first year 
     teaching in D.C. public schools, and she has brought to the 
     job all of the enthusiasm you'd expect of a person who 
     doesn't know any better.
       ``Our class will be starting a new social studies program 
     that focuses on D.C.,'' Sakai told parents. ``Strange how 
     D.C. schools don't have a program that focuses exclusively on 
     Washington. Hawaii is very big on learning about D.C. How can 
     we bypass D.C.? We're going to get to know our community and 
     our government and go on lots of field trips.''
       Then she asked us to fork over $3 each for a subscription 
     to a weekly children's current events magazine.
       More important than raising money, however, is getting 
     parents to support their children's teachers. To that end, we 
     all signed a ``parent contract.'' Instead of giving parents 
     money to escape the public school system, as a school voucher 
     would, a parent contract pledges parents to work to improve 
     the schools that their children already attend.
       An exchange that occurred between a teacher and a parent at 
     the meeting last week revealed the need for greater parental 
     commitment.
       Teacher: ``Each child will have a homework folder with his 
     or her assignments written down in it, and I expect you to 
     check it and sign it before your child returns.''
       Parent, sounding distressed: ``You aren't going to assign 
     homework every night, are you?''
       Teacher: ``I'll try not to give them homework on Fridays.''
       Parent, with a sigh of relief: ``Thank you.''
       That parent, judging from the way she was dressed, probably 
     had just come from work. She might have had another full-time 
     job as a housekeeper waiting for her when she got home. 
     Understandably, more homework for her child meant more work 
     for her.
       And yet, I would have thought that all D.C. 
     schoolteachers--just to make up for the three-week delay--
     would be piling on the homework. And I wouldn't expect them 
     to let up on Fridays either, especially for third- and fifth-
     graders, whose progress is being measured against national 
     standards for the first time this year.
       I could only vow that my child would have homework every 
     night, whether his teachers assigned it or not. Somehow, the 
     expectations for our children must be raised.
       ``For all of the resources and services that we have, our 
     children are not achieving at the level that they are capable 
     of,'' Woodard told the parents. ``We all must work harder on 
     that. We especially need parents to enhance and extend what 
     is going on in the classroom.
       ``Be sure that your children are reading a great deal of 
     books, and be sure that they are understanding what they 
     read.''
       Sounds like homework to me.

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