[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 149 (Monday, October 19, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2235-E2236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                STATEMENT ON K-12 EDUCATION INITIATIVES

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MATT SALMON

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 19, 1998

  Mr. SALMON. Mr. Speaker, the results of the Third International 
Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) released earlier this year, which 
revealed that U.S. 12th graders scored next to last in advanced math 
and dead last in physics, are a stunning rebuke to the aggressive 
efforts of the U.S. Department of Education to centralize the American 
education system. The Department of Education, which promised that the 
United States would lead the world in math and science by the year 
2000, can't even claim bragging rights over war-torn Slovenia. As to 
reading, which was not measured by TIMSS, 40 percent of fourth graders 
can't read. Yet, in response to these epic failures, the education 
establishment in Washington has come back with demands for more power, 
more central control, more of the same--although with some new 
packaging. This is almost the equivalent of exhuming the Kremlin to 
institute democratic reforms in Russia.
  The answer to our educational woes cannot be found in Washington. 
Washington has spent 30 years and untold billions on a top-down 
approach to education with little if any success. Spending for 
education has increased on an annual basis. In fact, according to a 
report that I commissioned the Congressional Research Service to 
prepare on a variety of comparative statistics on education in the 
United States versus other nations participating in the TIMSS 
assessment, the United States is on the upper end of countries in terms 
of expenditures per pupil, expenditures per capita, and for average 
salaries for elementary school teachers. Clearly, our education woes 
are not for a lack of funding. To improve the educational performance 
of our children, I believe that we must open the education monopoly at 
both the federal and state levels, spend education resources more 
wisely, and return power to parents and communities.
  When it comes to returning power to parents and injecting competition 
and accountability into the public school system, Arizona is at the 
front of the class. Charter schools--innovative public schools financed 
by tax dollars but free of most regulations--have flourished. Arizona, 
which has two percent of the nation's population, is home to one-
quarter of the charter schools in existence. (Congress just passed a 
bill that is designed to increase the number of charter schools.) These 
schools have fundamentally altered the Arizona education system; 
traditional public schools now compete with charters for students. The 
charter school movement has begun the process of having education 
dollars literally follow the student from school to school. The Arizona 
legislature also enacted education tax credits last year, which can be 
used by parents to cover a wide array of education expenses associated 
with primary and secondary education. The Arizona legislature also 
enacted education tax credits last year, which can be used by parents 
to cover a wide array of education expenses associated with primary and 
secondary education. The education reforms enacted in Arizona are 
designed to increase parental choice over their children's education 
and improve education quality. In Arizona, education reform is no 
longer a spectator sport.
  I have introduced two bills with Senator Jon Kyl that will compliment 
the new reforms in place in my state and should provide other states 
with similar opportunities for innovation. One bill, the ``K-12 
Community Participation Education Act,'' was inspired by the new 
Arizona education tax credit and would encourage Americans to get 
involved personally and to participate in efforts to improve K-12 
education. The other proposal, the ``Dollars Follow the Student 
Education Block Grant Act'' would block grant certain federal education 
dollars and permit states to distribute the funds in such a way that 
money would literally ``follow the child'' from school to school, which 
is the manner in which charter schools are funded in Arizona.

[[Page E2236]]

               K-12 Community Participation Education Act

  The ``K-12 Community Participation Act'' calls on parents, other 
members of the community, and businesses to invest in education. Phased 
in over four years, the legislation offers every family and business a 
tax credit of up to $500 for any K-12 education-related expense or 
activity.
  The tax credit could be used for expenses incurred at any public 
(including charter), private, or parochial institution. The credit 
could also be applied for home schooling. Permissible expenses include: 
books, tuition, fees, supplies, computers, tutors, or equipment 
required for courses of instruction. Additionally, the credit would be 
available for extracurricular activities. Moreover, the tax credit 
could be contributed to ``school tuition organizations''--charitable 
organizations that allocate at least ninety percent of their annual 
revenue for educational scholarships or tuition grants to children to 
allow them to attend any qualified school of their parents' choice.
  Imagine the possibilities. For example, concerned businesses in a 
particular community could band together, and direct tax credit 
contributions to a school tuition organization that provides 
scholarships to low income children in malfunctioning school districts. 
Rather than wait for governmental assistance, individuals and 
businesses would be deputized to act immediately to save children in 
dangerous or academically under-achieving schools.
  Unlike the big government proposals being pushed by the President, 
under the K-12 tax credit bill families control the expenditure of 
education dollars, not centralized bureaucrats. Additionally, the 
community participation tax credit would direct immediate assistance to 
our faltering K-12 system.


          Dollars Follow the Student Education Block Grant Act

  According to a report released by the Heritage Foundation, at least 
20 percent of education tax dollars spent from Washington are lost to 
administrative costs. Moreover, the House Committee on Education and 
the Workforce report, Education at the Crossroads, disclosed this 
staggering statistic: The federal government accounts for only seven 
percent of the funding for K-12 education, but 50 percent of the 
paperwork burden for schools. Several important initiatives have been 
introduced in this Congress to ensure that more federal education 
dollars reach the classroom, without the staggering administrative 
burdens that currently accompany these funds.
  The Dollars Follow the Student Education Block Grant Act would give 
states the opportunity to have nearly all of a $13 billion pot of 
federal education dollars go directly to parents of children. The block 
grant is modeled after a proposal that has already passed in the House 
and Senate, but was stripped from an appropriations bill last year at 
the President's insistence. That proposal would have consolidated most 
federally funded K through 12 education programs, except for special 
education, and would have given states the ability to have federal 
funds sent directly to local school districts or to the state education 
authority minus federal regulations. States also would have been 
allowed to reject the block grant approach if they preferred to 
maintain the current system of allocating funds directly into specific 
programs, with very little flexibility.
  The bill I have introduced would permit each state opting to have a 
block grant to have the money ``follow the child.'' The states would be 
permitted to decide to allow parents of children in public schools 
(including charter), private schools, and parents of ``home schooled'' 
kids, to receive their ``per capita'' amount directly, rather than 
indirectly through the school district and school, thus creating an 
incentive for schools to provide quality education by competing for 
children. All schools would have an incentive to improve its overall 
performance, since if parents weren't satisfied, they could move their 
child to another school--along with the dollars that accompany their 
children.
  The proposal provides that if federal funding falls below the levels 
agreed to in the 1997 budget agreement, it will revert back to the 
current system of funding under federally-designated categories. My 
bill also requires that states adjust block grants to ensure that 
poorer districts receive an adequate level of funding.
  In a recent article, ``First, Do No Harm: The Federal Role in 
Education Reform,'' featured in American Outlook, former U.S. Assistant 
Secretary of Education Chester E. Finn identified as part of a new 
paradigm for education, child-centered funding:
  ``[U]ncle Sam should replace today's hundreds of separate 
``categorical'' programs with a couple of block grants or voucher-style 
programs. When a child is deemed eligible for federal aid, for whatever 
reason, that aid should follow him to the school (or other vendor) of 
his and his family's choice. . . .  Washington should also quit 
subsidizing state and local education bureaucracies.''
  Under a child-centered approach, Dr. Finn argued that: ``No school 
will be guaranteed its budget (or jobs). No school will own its 
students. It will have to `earn' its revenue by doing what it is 
supposed to.''


                               Conclusion

  We need the courage to stand up to the powerful education bureaucrats 
and say you have failed our children and we will tolerate it no longer. 
No more five or ten year plans to nowhere. It's time to give the fabric 
of America, our families and communities, new tools to improve student 
performance. My hope is that Congress has the wisdom to follow the lead 
of the Arizona legislature, and pass a K-12 education tax credit bill, 
and the Dollars Follow the Student Education Block Grant Act.

                          ____________________