[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 101 (Friday, July 24, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8993-S8994]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 VETO OF COVERDELL LEGISLATION AND RELEASE OF HOUSE EDUCATION AND THE 
     WORKFORCE SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS REPORT

  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, our self-proclaimed ``Education 
President'' has just seen fit to veto the most significant bipartisan 
education legislation passed by the 105th Congress--the Education 
Savings and School Excellence Act. As many Americans know, this 
legsilation's main feature is to allow families to establish education 
savings accounts in which parents can invest $2,000 a year and allow 
that money to grow tax free. Parents can use the money to pay for 
school expenses including tutoring, computers, school fees and private 
school tuition.
  Why has the President seen fit to veto this legislation? Well, he has 
received a great deal of pressure from those who believe that we should 
not increase the control parents have over the education of their 
children.
  In addition to providing tax-free education savings accounts for 
families, this legislation includes provisions that would: authorize a 
literacy program to improve the reading skills of America's youth; 
allow Federal funding for education reform projects that provide same 
gender schools and classrooms; allow States to make awards to public 
schools that demonstrate a high level of academic achievement; and 
allow states to test teachers and provide merit pay programs.
  With the recent news that 60 percent of prospective teachers in 
Massachuesetts taking a basic certification test were unable to pass, 
it is unfortunate that the President's veto will not allow States like 
Massachusetts to help current and prospective teachers reach their full 
potential, as well as reward those who perform in a superior manner. I 
signed a letter to the President along with 42 other senators asking 
that he sign the education savings account legislation and pointing out 
this very feature. Unfortunately, our plea fell on deaf ears.
  Mr. President, I have worked diligently to fashion, over the past 
year a return to our parents, teachers, principals, superintendents and 
school board members control over the education of their children. The 
Federal Government has too much influence and misuses too many 
resources that would be better spent in classrooms across America.
  As a member of the Senate Budget Committee Education Task Force, I 
found that no one in the Federal Government even knows exactly how many 
education programs are overseen by the Federal Government. Although the 
Department of Education annually publishes a ``Digest of Education 
Statistics,'' the most recent version of which is over 500 pages in 
length, there is no mention of how many education programs are 
administered by Federal agencies.
  I have, however, heard testimony from the General Accounting Office 
about the duplication of Federal education programs. In January of this 
year Dr. Carlotta Joyner of the GAO appeared before the Senate Budget 
Committee Education Task Force and presented us with a graphic that 
highlights the web of Federal education programs in only three areas of 
education: at-risk and delinquent youth, early childhood programs, and 
teacher training programs. Dr. Joyner explained to us that 15 Federal 
departments and agencies administer 127 at-risk and delinquent youth 
programs, 11 Federal departments and agencies administer more than 90 
early childhood programs, and 9 Federal departments and agencies 
administer 86 teacher training programs.
  It is no wonder that more and more, States and local school districts 
are suffocated by a tidal wave of papers, forms and programs, each of 
which no doubt began with good intentions. The net result of this tidal 
wave, however, is precisely what makes it difficult to set priorities 
in each of the states and school districts across the country to 
determine that which will best serve their students.
  As I have stated previously, the only reason I can discern that the 
President would veto this legislation is that he believes that schools 
will be improved through more control from Washington, D.C. Unlike the 
President, however, I believe our best hope for improving the education 
of our children is to put the American people in charge of their local 
schools.
  I also believe it is appropriate at this time to give my colleagues 
in the Senate some good news on the education front. Last Friday, the 
House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Oversight and 
Investigations adopted a report entitled ``Education at a Crossroads: 
What Works and What's Wasted in Education Today'' by a vote of 5-2. 
This report is a result of two-and-a-half years of work by that 
subcommittee and the dedication of it's chairman, Congressman Hoekstra. 
The report is more than 70 pages long and I will not touch on all the 
issues it discusses, but I do want to point out some of the conclusions 
the subcommittee reached.

[[Page S8994]]

  The report's conclusion states in part:

       . . . the central theme of what we learned is that the 
     federal government cannot consistently and effectively 
     replicate success stories throughout the nation in the form 
     of federal programs. Instead, federal education dollars 
     should support effective State and local initiatives, 
     ensuring that neither impedes local innovation and control, 
     nor diverts dollars from the classroom through burdensome 
     regulations and overhead.

  The report goes on to give specific steps for Congress to take to 
improve education in America. The report advocates increasing the 
ability of States and local communities to waive federal education 
regulations, reducing the tax burden on families, passing tax-free 
education savings account legislation, improving federal support for 
charter schools, and otherwise encouraging more parental choice in 
education.
  I have long been an advocate of many of the suggestions outlined in 
this report. I hope that my colleagues in the Senate will take the time 
to review the report Congressman Hoekstra's subcommittee has prepared 
and consider where they stand on these issues. It is long past time for 
both parties in Congress to stop simply giving lip service to the idea 
of local control of education, and to put our money where our mouths 
are.
  Finally, I want to remind my colleagues that although I have 
introduced and passed twice in the last year an amendment that would 
allow States and local school districts increased control over the 
education of their children. Because of the insistence of Democrats in 
the Senate, the President, and even some Members of my own party this 
legislation has not yet survived a conference committee. Although I 
have not yet been successful in passing this legislation into law to 
give States and local communities the relief they deserve and need to 
improve education in America, I will again in the near future propose 
legislation that moves us toward this goal. Whether through block 
grants or some other means, I am committed to the belief that real 
education reform will not take place through ''. . . guidance from 
above . . .'', but from parents and educators in communities across 
this land as they are empowered to direct the education of their 
children.
  Mr. President, I note also present on the floor is Senator Frist, the 
chairman of the Senate Budget Committee task force on education, whose 
work is of equal importance to that of Congressman Hoekstra's and whose 
report I also commend to the Members of this body. He is our great 
expert on health care, but he is also a major leader in education 
reform in the U.S. Senate, and we all owe him a great debt of 
gratitude.

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