[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 141 (Monday, October 20, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10859-S10860]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BINGAMAN:
  S. 1295. A bill to provide for dropout prevention; to the Committee 
on Labor and Human Resources.


              THE NATIONAL DROPOUT PREVENTION ACT OF 1997

  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, today I am introducing the National 
Dropout Prevention Act. I will talk just a bit about the issue and talk 
about the problem that I am trying to address and that this act is 
intending to address. It is a problem, I think, all Senators should 
join me in trying to resolve and I believe will join me in trying to 
resolve.
  We have a serious problem on our hands that is a threat to the youth 
of America. The problem is that far too many of our kids are dropping 
out of high school before they graduate. Some, even, are dropping out 
of middle school before they proceed on to high school.
  Each fall, starting about a month ago, students begin dropping out of 
school and they drop out in very, very large numbers. Nationwide, 
nearly half a million kids leave school each year. That is, leaving 
school not by graduating but leaving school early and deciding not to 
stay in school and graduate. That is 2,700 dropouts for each school 
day. Studies show that our children are dropping out at a younger and 
younger age.
  Who are these kids who are dropping out of school? The charts that I 
have here make the case fairly well. They are largely from low-income 
and middle-income families, and as a percent they are largely minority. 
The numbers are disturbing across the board, but they are particularly 
alarming for Hispanic students.
  First, on the income level. If you look at this chart, the top line 
shows the period from 1975 to 1995, a 20-year period. On the left-hand 
side we show the dropout rates for grades 10-12, ages 15-24, by family 
income. What this means is that among students from low-income families 
at times it has been as high as 17 percent that have dropped out in a 
particular year. In middle-income families, it is closer to 6 to 8 
percent, and in high-income families it is substantially lower than 
that. When you break it down not just by income level but by ethnic 
background, you can see that the problem is concentrated and 
particularly alarming for Hispanic students who are dropping out at a 
rate more than double that of non-Hispanic students. Also, black 
students drop out at a rate about 50 percent higher than the rate for 
white students.
  You can see from this chart the point I am making here, the top line, 
the red line, represents the percentage of Hispanic students dropping 
out. This is called status dropout rates for persons 16-24, and you can 
see somewhere between 30 and 35 percent of Spanish students nationwide 
drop out rather than compete high school. It is a very serious problem, 
particularly in that group, and of course that is a great concern in my 
State where a very large percent of the student population is Hispanic.
  Why are they dropping out? With all the emphasis on self-reliance 
these days it is tempting to ask what is wrong with kids that so many 
of them are leaving school. When you actually sit down and talk to 
these young people, as I have done across New Mexico, you soon learn 
that it is not the kids that are failing the schools as much as it is 
the schools that are failing our young people. Ask groups of high 
school students why they and their friends are leaving school and you 
will hear the same answers again and again. Some of them are bored with 
the dumbed-down lessons that they don't see as having any relevance to 
their own lives. They are lost in giant school buildings with endless 
corridors and teachers who have very little time to give them or to use 
in encouraging them to succeed in their school work. They are trapped 
in an educational system that does not meet the individual needs of 
individual students.
  With all the focus on education these days you would think this issue 
would be getting substantial attention but, in fact, it is not getting 
any real attention. It has been 8 years since President Bush and the 
Nation's Governors established as a national goal that we would 
graduate 90 percent of high school seniors by the year 2000. Obviously, 
we are much closer to the year 2000, but we are nowhere near the goal 
of graduating 90 percent of our students before they drop out of 
school.
  Now, let's talk a little about the bill we are introducing, this 
National Dropout Prevention Act of 1997. This is the only comprehensive 
effort that we have seen, that we have come up with, or that we are 
aware of anyone coming up with, that will prevent students from 
dropping out of school and take this issue head on.
  Let me outline the proposal very briefly. First, two basic points. 
The reasons that kids drop out of school cut across racial and ethnic 
lines. The solutions we are proposing are aimed at helping all at-risk 
students make it through high school. Second, the emphasis here is on 
preventing students from dropping out of school by reforming the 
schools that they are in rather than trying to help students later 
after they have made the decision to leave school.
  But what I am proposing in this bill sets out to achieve four basic 
goals:
  First, to focus greater national attention on the problem and to 
coordinate our Federal efforts to deal with the issue.
  Second, to provide more resources to help communities to fight back 
at this problem.
  Third, to enable school districts to try effective prevention 
strategies that have been shown to work.
  Fourth, to enlist the States where most of the resources are and most 
of the policy is related to education in the effort to keep more kids 
in school.
  The bill directs the President to appoint a dropout czar within the 
Department of Education who would coordinate efforts at the national 
level, would streamline programs, would recommend changes and, most 
importantly, could be held accountable for progress on dropout 
prevention. This czar would make sure that existing Federal programs 
such as the Upward Bound Program and vocational education do their 
level best to help at-risk kids to complete high school.
  Second and third, this bill creates a new $100 million grant program 
to reach the 1,000 schools across the country with the highest dropout 
rates. With these funds, schools would be able to try proven strategies 
that have been shown to work--strategies like breaking larger schools 
down into smaller learning communities so that kids can have regular 
and closer contact with the adults in the school, particularly with 
their teachers, and can have challenging and relevant work to do.
  Finally, because States are so much a part of our educational system, 
we would ask them to place a greater emphasis on dropout prevention as 
well. We have asked in this bill that instead of awarding education 
dollars based on how many students are enrolled in school 40 days into 
the year, as my State does and as many States do, the States change 
their laws so that they monitor enrollment levels throughout the school 
year. Because gathering accurate data is the first step toward fixing 
the problem, we also ask that States keep track of who is leaving 
school.
  Let me show you a chart. This chart takes the 23 States that 
presently collect data on the number of students dropping out of school 
and it ranks them. It shows that, according to the statistics we have, 
as a percentage dropout rate, New Mexico --and this is on an annual 
basis--ranks third in the country. Each Senator can look at this list 
and determine very quickly, first,

[[Page S10860]]

whether his or her State collects data on this subject and, second 
where his or her State ranks in dealing with the problem.
  In conclusion, Mr. President, let me just summarize what our bill 
does. It coordinates the Federal dropout prevention initiatives; it 
streamlines the unconnected and overlapping dropout prevention 
programs; it provides additional Federal resources for dropout 
prevention programs at the State level and local school district level; 
it targets and expands participation by at-risk students in the 
programs, and it calls on State and local agencies to coordinate and 
expand their own efforts.
  Mr. President, this is a difficult problem. It is one that we are not 
going to solve by waving some magic wand. The effort will demand a 
concerted effort, a real commitment by State and local leaders, 
parents, educators and, of course, students. But if the issue is not 
placed on the national agenda and done so immediately, our chances of 
meeting this 90 percent graduation target any time in the near future 
will be greatly diminished. Clearly, it will be impossible to meet that 
by the year 2000. But, hopefully, we can meet it some time in the next 
decade if we get about the business of trying to do so.
  This legislation is being introduced, Mr. President, with the hope 
that we can begin to educate others in the Congress about the 
seriousness of the problem, begin to educate others in the country 
about the seriousness of the problem. I hope we can get colleagues to 
cosponsor the legislation and that we can move toward hearings on the 
bill some time in the Labor and Human Resources Committee early after 
we reconvene in the second session of this Congress.
                                 ______