[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 144 (Monday, October 12, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12382-S12383]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    EDUCATION IN THE 105TH CONGRESS

  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, over the past several days, the White 
House has bombarded the airwaves with rhetoric suggesting that 
congressional Republicans have turned a deaf ear to the needs of our 
nation's students. Hearing all this, I have to say I feel like I have 
entered a parallel universe. Less than one week ago, I was standing in 
that same White House listening to the President laud one of the most 
significant bipartisan achievements of the 105th Congress--enactment of 
the Higher Education Amendments of 1998.
  Lost in all the pre-election maneuvering is any recognition of the 
solid record of accomplishment by this Congress on behalf of students 
from pre-school through graduate school. I would like to take a few 
minutes to review that record.


           Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

  One of the first measures considered by the 105th Congress was the 
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Amendments of 1997. 
The development of this legislation involved a level of cooperation 
which is virtually unprecedented--between Republicans and Democrats, 
House and Senate, and Congress and the Administration. The leadership 
demonstrated by Senator Lott was critical to the success of this 
effort, as was the many hours of work by my colleagues on the Labor and 
Human Resources Committee--particularly Senators Kennedy, Coats, 
Harkin, Frist, Dodd, and Gregg.
  The result of this bipartisan effort is a law which strengthens our 
assistance to States for making a free appropriate public education 
available to children with disabilities. Major principles underlying 
the reauthorization bill included: placing an emphasis on prevention; 
basing procedures and paperwork on common sense and accountability for 
results; developing a coherent policy for dealing with disciplinary 
actions; and offering local school districts options for fiscal relief.
  In addition, we have followed up words with action by providing 
substantial funding increases for IDEA. I was extremely disappointed 
that the Administration's fiscal year 1999 budget included no increase 
for special education funding for children with disabilities from 3 
through 21 years of age--not even an adjustment for inflation. 
Fortunately, due to the prodding of Senator Gregg and others, Congress 
had increased special education funding by more than 60 percent over 
the past two years. In fiscal year 1996, we provided about $2.3 billion 
for IDEA state grants. That figure was increased to $3.1 billion in FY 
1997 and increased again to $3.8 billion in FY 1998. We expect to add 
at least another $500 million this year.


                          Taxpayer Relief Act

  Bipartisan cooperation also led to the inclusion of a substantial 
investment in education as part of the Taxpayer Relief Act signed into 
law last summer. This act contains 11 types of education tax breaks 
amounting to $40 billion over 5 years--the most significant of which is 
the HOPE Scholarship credit.


                Emergency Student Loan Consolidation Act

  Late last year, the President signed into law a measure designed to 
provide relief to borrowers who were unable to consolidate their 
student loans due to the suspension of the Direct Loan consolidation 
loan program. On August 26, 1997, the Department of Education suspended 
its consolidation loan program in an effort to deal with the backlog of 
84,000 applications which had piled up prior to that time.


                      National Science Foundation

  This summer, Congress completed action on the first major reform of 
the National Science Foundation in a decade. Approved unanimously by 
both bodies of the Congress, this legislation responds to our Nation's 
changing research and technology needs and provides $11 billion over 
three years to ensure our continued world leadership in science and 
technology. As a result of leadership provided by members of the Senate 
Labor and Human Resources Committee, particularly Senators Kennedy, 
Frist, Dodd, and Collins, these funds will be used to support more than 
19,000 competitively awarded projects at over 2,000 colleges, 
universities, elementary schools, and high schools.
  Through this authorization, we provided for the greatest investment 
in basic math, science, and engineering research in our Nation's 
history. An often overlooked feature of the measure is the dramatic 
investment being made to develop and strengthen our Nation's human 
resources.
  The reauthorization bill reflects the critical need for greater 
investment in systemic education reform, professional development, 
curriculum reform, as well as informal science education. It provides 
more than $1.2 billion over three years to strengthen our nation's 
capacity to teach math and science to secondary and elementary 
students. More than $300 million of these funds will be used to ensure 
that our Nation's math and science teachers have the knowledge and 
skills they need to prepare their students. Another $300 million will 
be used to support model efforts at systemic education reform. An 
additional $800 million will be used to strengthen the quality and 
availability of math, science and engineering education at our nation's 
colleges and universities.


                  Adult Education and Family Literacy

  Yet another example of the progress which can be made when partisan 
differences are set aside is legislation signed into law by the 
President this August, which supports programs that assist 
educationally disadvantaged adults in developing basic literacy skills, 
achieving high school equivalency certification, and learning English. 
These provisions comprised the education component of comprehensive 
legislation known as the Workforce Investment Act to which Senators 
Kennedy, DeWine, and Wellstone made significant contributions 
throughout the process.
  The Adult Education and Family Literacy Act provides assistance for 
those adults most in need of acquiring literacy skills. Of the 
approximately 4 million adults who annually receive services under this 
program, 75 percent usually come into the program with below 8th grade 
literacy skills.
  This legislation emphasizes the importance of coordinating adult 
education programs with employment and training activities and family 
literacy initiatives. It also establishes a comprehensive 
accountability system to assess the effectiveness of the activities 
undertaken by States and local communities. The establishment of 
accountability measures will enable the federal government to optimize 
its investment in adult education and family literacy activities. This 
investment stands at $385 million today.


                          Higher Education Act

  As I mentioned earlier, one of the most significant bipartisan 
achievements of this Congress is the Higher Education Amendments which 
were signed into law last week. From the start of this process, in both 
the House and Senate, the development of this legislation was a joint 
venture on the part of Republicans and Democrats. In the Senate, I 
worked closely with Senators Kennedy, Coats, and Dodd each step of the 
way. In addition, every single member of the Labor and Human Resources 
Committee--as well as many Members outside the committee--made positive 
contributions to this measure.

[[Page S12383]]

  Since its inception in 1965, the Higher Education Act has been 
focused on enhancing the opportunities of students to pursue 
postsecondary education. The grant, loan, and work study assistance 
made available by this Act has made the difference for countless 
millions in pursuing their dreams for a better life.
  In the face of rising college costs, the 1998 amendments have 
provided students with the lowest cost loans in nearly two decades. 
With increasing concern about the quality of our nation's teachers, 
this act will take giant steps in improving teacher preparation. And 
with students, parents, and--frankly--Senators concerned about the 
delivery of student aid, this act completely overhauls the federal role 
by placing it in the hands of a professional and accountable agency 
within the Department of Education.
  I believe the lasting legacy of this reauthorization bill will be its 
provisions dealing with teachers. At its foundation, it embraces the 
notion that investing in the preparation of our nation's teachers is a 
good one. Well prepared teachers play a key role in making it possible 
for our students to achieve the standards required to assure both their 
own well being and the ability of our country to compete 
internationally. In fact, the continued health and strength of our 
nation depends on our country's ability to improve the education of our 
young people. Integral to that is the strength and ability of our 
nation's teaching force. Without a strong, competent, well prepared 
teaching force, other investments in education will be of little value.


           carl d. perkins vocational-technical education act

  The story does not end here, as several other important education 
initiatives are ``in the pipeline'' on the way to the President. Last 
week, the House and Senate gave final approval to legislation designed 
to more fully develop the academic, technical, and vocational skills of 
secondary and postsecondary students enrolled in vocational and 
technical education programs in order for the United States to be more 
competitive in the world economy.
  This legislation is an important complement to the Workforce 
Investment Act and benefitted from the same bipartisan teamwork which 
produced that Act. The Workforce Investment Act streamlined and 
consolidated a myriad of job training programs and also put into place 
tough accountability mechanisms. The 1998 Perkins reauthorization 
emphasizes the important balance between a strong academic background 
and a vocational and technical education system that reflects today's 
global economy.
  There are presently between 200,000 and 300,000 unfilled positions in 
the technology field. The reason for the difficulty in filling these 
positions is not because of low unemployment numbers, but because of 
the lack of skilled workers. These positions require an excellent 
vocational education system and the ability to pursue further technical 
education following high school.


                         Reading Excellence Act

  Also in line for signature by the President is the Reading Excellence 
Act. The purpose of this legislation is to improve both the reading 
skills of students and the instructional practices for teachers who 
teach reading, and to expand family literacy programs--including the 
Even Start program. States and local communities will work together as 
a partnership in providing professional development activities to 
teachers and other instructional staff and in carrying out family 
literacy efforts.


                               Head Start

  Under the leadership of Senator Coats, and with the assistance of 
Senators Dodd and Kennedy, we will also enact this Congress a 
reauthorization of the Head Start program. Recognizing the critical 
role of the pre-school years in a young child's development, this 
legislation expands the Early Head Start program for our youngest 
children in a manner which balances the desire to make this program 
available to more children and families and the need to ensure that 
every Head Start program meets the high standards of quality that we 
have demanded.
  The new evaluation and research provisions will provide much-needed 
information about how the program operates, help identify the ``best 
practices,'' and will guide the grantees, the Department of Health and 
Human Services, and Congress to continue the improvements in Head Start 
which began four years ago.


                            Charter Schools

  Finally, the President will soon be presented with the Charter School 
Expansion Act of 1998. Senators Coats and Lieberman are to be 
particularly commended for their skill and persistence in forging a 
bipartisan alliance on behalf of this legislation. The purpose of this 
legislation is to provide financial assistance for the planning, 
design, and initial implementation of new charter schools. This 
assistance will enhance the efforts of states and local communities to 
increase the number of charter schools and will help meet the 
President's goal of having 3,000 charter schools by the year 2000.
  In terms of education, I believe that the 105th Congress is among the 
most productive in my memory. The actions we have taken this Congress 
touch the lives of students of all ages--from youngsters in Head Start 
and Even Start, to special education students, to high school 
vocational students, to college undergraduates and graduate students, 
to adults in need of remedial education.
  It is unfortunate that all of this work seems to have been forgotten. 
It is also unfortunate that no one is acknowledging that congressional 
Republicans stand ready to spend as much money on education as we have 
offsets to support.
  Instead, an effort appears to be underway to convince the American 
public that failing to fund an untested and unauthorized program to 
reduce class size should be taken as a sign of total neglect of 
education by this Congress. The facts just don't support that 
conclusion. The number of teachers is not as important as the quality 
of teachers. On the Federal level we must focus on promoting and 
ensuring quality. We don't necessarily need millions of new teachers--
what we really need are millions of good teachers.
  To hear the President and his advisers, hiring more teachers and 
reducing classroom size is the silver bullet which will solve the many 
deficiencies now plaguing our elementary and secondary schools. What we 
should all know by now is that there are no silver bullets when it 
comes to assuring the quality of education.
  Rather, the only way to achieve the goals we seek is through the 
constant, day-to-day plugging away on behalf of the highest possible 
standards in all our education endeavors. I believe that the Congress 
is doing its part and that we have the legislative record to back that 
up.

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