[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 143 (Sunday, October 11, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H10524-H10525]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               INVEST IN AMERICA'S CHILDREN AND EDUCATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sandlin) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SANDLIN. Mr. Speaker, American children, American education, what 
better investment could we make? What higher priority could we have in 
the United States Congress than in our children?
  Mr. Speaker, today, we have heard a lot of talking back and forth 
about the name of this Congress. I do not know about that, and I do not 
particularly want to get involved in that, but I do know this, we have 
an opportunity today to be known as the ``do something good Congress,'' 
because we can take one vote, take one day, and we can invest in 
America's children, and we can invest in education.
  We have had a lot of talk today about who controls education. 
Education is properly controlled at the local level. In Texas, local 
citizens elect a local school board that hires a local superintendent, 
and they have local teachers that teach local children of local parents 
that support our local schools.
  But that does not mean that the Federal Government cannot be helpful. 
We can be a junior partner in education. We can help provide the tools 
and the capital that our local communities need to address local 
problems and educate local children.
  A junior partner is not controlling, but he is important. We need to 
meet our important responsibility and obligation to America's children 
by joining with local communities in education.
  Let me talk briefly about four areas of concern. Number one, smaller 
classes. Studies confirm that young students in classrooms between 15 
and 20 students learn more rapidly, and they learn better than other 
children.
  The Federal Government, as a junior partner, can make capital 
available, can make funds available to help communities hire more 
teachers on a cost-shared basis, on a cost-shared basis. $7.3 billion 
over the next 5 years would put us on track to hiring 100,000 new 
teachers to spread across this country in grades one through three and 
will reduce the class size to 18 children.
  If we ask teachers how best to bring down violence in school and how 
best to teach children, they say bring down class size.
  School modernization. In order for our students to learn and compete 
in the economy of the 21st century, schools must be well equipped. A 
1996 GAO study found that, over a quarter of Texas schools have at 
least one building in need of extensive repair, and over half of the 
schools in Texas have schools with at least one major building feature 
that has to be replaced, such as all of the plumbing, all of the air 
conditioning. There are similar problems across the entire United 
States.
  To address this shortfall, the Federal Government can provide tax 
credits. We can give credits to folks to pay interest on nearly $22 
billion in bonds to build and renovate public schools. We

[[Page H10525]]

have an obligation to build schools in this country and to make those 
facilities available for our children like our parents did for us, 
because, Mr. Speaker, nearly one in every three schools in America 
today was built before World War II.

                              {time}  1515

  That is just not right, and we can do better and we must do better 
for the children of this country.
  Let us talk about safer classrooms. Drug use among our 12th graders, 
over half of whom have already tried drugs, is up. Only 30 percent of 
public elementary schools in this country have after-school programs 
and in rural areas, such as where I am from in Texas, the number drops 
to 12 percent. The Federal Government should continue to make grants 
available to work in partnership with local government and communities 
for prevention, for early intervention and enforcement efforts.
  Further, we should authorize funding for school-based partnerships 
between local law enforcement agencies and school districts to combat 
crime, to combat drug activities and to make sure that our children 
have a safe place to learn.
  Finally, better technology. Give our kids the skills they are going 
to need for the jobs that are coming up in the next century. We need to 
ensure that our children have the necessary technology in the 
classroom. That means modern computers, Internet connections, 
educational software, educated, well-paid, enthused, encouraged 
teachers that are ready, willing and able to teach our children.

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