[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 11 (Friday, January 22, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S926-S927]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES AND EXCELLENCE ACT OF 1999

 Mr. COVERDELL. Mr. President, yesterday, I introduced the 
Educational Opportunities and Excellence Act of 1999. This legislation 
represents the Republican vision how we can improve educational 
opportunities for every American child.
  Last year, Congressional Republicans passed an educational agenda to 
provide every child in America with first-class learning opportunities 
in safe, secure schools, to give parents new choices and more decision-
making power over their children's education, and to bring common-sense 
reforms to a myriad of redundant and antiquated federal education 
programs. Unfortunately, the special interests in Washington were 
resistant to change and fought desperately against our reform efforts. 
This is what happened:

                   What We Proposed and What Happened

       (1) A+ Accounts--President vetoed.
       (2) Block Grants--Passed Senate, dropped in conference.
       (3) Charter Schools--Signed into law.
       (4) School Choice Pilot Program--President vetoed.
       (5) Teacher Testing/Merit Pay--President vetoed.
       (6) Reading Excellence--Signed into law.
       (7)Teacher and Student Safety--President vetoed.
       (8) Full Funding of IDEA--Increased Funding by over $500m.

  Despite the fierce opposition of our opponents, we will continue our 
fight to bring the best education possible within the reach of every 
American

[[Page S927]]

child. Our mission is to ensure that our children are among the best 
educated in the world, and we will not be dissuaded from accomplishing 
that goal by any amount of opposition.
  Today, we are introducing the Educational Opportunities and 
Excellence Act of 1999 to build on the Successes of the 105th Congress, 
and to jump start the much needed debate on increasing the ability of 
our nation's children to obtain a quality education.
  The Educational Opportunities and Excellence Act of 1999 is a broad 
effort to offer new reforms to K-12 education, and provide incentives 
for families to save for higher education. It is made up of several 
titles:
  Title 1--the Education savings Account Act of 1999--Under this title, 
parents will have more control over their children's education through 
IRA-style savings accounts that allow parents to save money tax-free 
for elementary and secondary education expenses. This legislation 
allows parents, grandparents, or scholarship sponsors to contribute up 
to $2,000 (post-tax dollars) a year per child for educational expenses 
while at public, private, religious or home schools--from kindergarten 
through high school. Last year, this proposal passed both the House and 
the Senate, but was vetoed by President Clinton.
  Title II--Dollars to the Classroom Act--consolidates over 30 separate 
education programs and sends the money directly to state and local 
officials to be used to improve educational achievement and learning. 
The bill requires that 95% of federal education dollars are spent on 
classroom activities, rather than Washington based bureaucracies.
  Title III--Merit Act--provides for an incentive grant program for 
States to establish and administer periodic teacher testing and merit 
pay programs for elementary and secondary school teachers.
  Title IV--Additional Funding for the Individuals with Disabilities 
Education--provides additional funding to states to meet the federal 
mandate under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
  Title V--K-12 Community Participation Act--amends the IRS code to 
allow for a tax credit for elementary and secondary school expenses and 
for charitable contributions to organizations which provide scholarship 
to attend private schools. The maximum credit allow is up to $200 per 
person in 1999; $150 in 2000; $200 in 2001; and $250 thereafter.
  Title VI--Collegiate Learning and Student Savings--extends tax-free 
treatment to all accumulations of interests and withdrawals from pre-
paid college tuition plans.
  With the Educational Opportunities and Excellence Act of 1999, we 
want to lead the Congress in taking the first steps necessary to 
improve educational opportunities dramatically for every American 
child. Our agenda--parental control and involvement, dollars to the 
classroom, state and local authority, and a return to basic academics--
will be fully embraced by parents, teachers and administrators, 
governors and mayors across the country.

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