[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 28 (Tuesday, February 23, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E265]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 THE INTRODUCTION OF THE EDUCATION FLEXIBILITY PARTNERSHIP ACT OF 1999

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                         HON. MICHAEL N. CASTLE

                              of delaware

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 23, 1999

  Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce the Education 
Flexibility Partnership Act of 1999. Teaching children to master skills 
and knowledge is the key to our nation's future success and economic 
growth and the surest ticket to a better life for our Nation's 
citizens. As the House Education Subcommittee Chairman on Early 
Childhood, Youth, and Families, I offer this legislation--which I began 
work on in the 105th Congress--as the first item on the Subcommittee's 
agenda in pursuit of attaining educational excellence for children 
across the Nation.
  The Education Flexibility Partnership Act of 1999, also known as Ed-
Flex, will bring much needed relief to our schools, while boosting the 
productivity and the academic achievement of students. There is nothing 
more important to the future of our country than ensuring our students 
receive a challenging and enriching education. In talking to teachers 
about our schools, one of the complaints I hear repeatedly is that the 
Federal Government often weighs in on local school matters in a 
counterproductive and burdensome way. Often times, regulations put in 
place at the Federal level--intended to assist local schools in 
attaining educational excellence--actually have the opposite effect. 
Instead of strengthening teachers' time in the classroom, some 
regulations end up taking talented teachers away from students so they 
can fill out paperwork or assess program spending. Again, the intention 
of these regulations are good. Everyone wants students to achieve at 
higher rates and schools to provide better educational opportunities. 
However, because each school district is structured differently and 
because each student body has diverse needs, regulations sometimes 
actually interfere with the schools main focus of educating children. 
In these instances, we have actually added to the barriers of attaining 
educational excellence, instead of breaking them down. A `one size fits 
all solution' rarely works for everyone, and though they provide a 
framework for schools, they do not cross every `T' or dot every `I'. We 
can help fill in this gap, however, by supporting education 
flexibility.
  Under current law, 12 states are authorized to participate in an 
enormously popular pilot program known as Ed-Flex. My proposal extends 
that authority to all states. Under Ed-Flex, states can grant schools 
waivers of certain federal requirements that, while intending to 
assist, actually inhibit the school's ability to improve educational 
opportunities for its students. For example, in Ohio, the program was 
used to significantly reduce paperwork for schools, school districts, 
and the state education agency. In addition, the state granted two 
statewide waivers. Each of these required school districts to describe 
the specific regulatory barrier, show how the removal of the barrier 
will benefit students, and describe a plan to evaluate the waiver's 
effect on teaching and learning. The time saved on completing 
applications frees up staff time to address more substantive and 
crucial needs of the students.
  Texas has successfully used Ed-Flex waiver authority to improve 
student performance through more than 4,000 programmatic and 
administrative waivers, such as permitting schools to offer school-wide 
Title I programs, changing the priorities for professional development 
activities under the Eisenhower Professional Development program, and 
reducing paperwork for schools. After only two years of implementation, 
preliminary statewide results on the Texas Assessment of Academic 
Skills show that districts with waivers outperformed districts without 
waivers 87 percent to 84 percent in reading and 82.6 percent to 80.2 
percent in math. For African-American students, the gains were even 
bigger. For example, at Westlawn Elementary School in La Marque, Texas, 
African-American students improved almost 23 percent over their 1996 
math test scores with 82 percent of students passing. The statewide 
average was 64 percent.
  Maryland, another Ed-Flex state, used its waiver authority to reduce 
student-teacher ratios for students with the greatest need in math and 
science from 25 to 1 to 12 to 1. Under the Howard County waiver, the 
school will provide additional instruction time in reading and math and 
increase each student's time on task. The State holds schools 
accountable through performance on the Maryland School Performance 
Assessment Program. Ed-Flex allows schools to tailor waivers to meet 
their individual needs. I believe all States should have the 
opportunity to obtain similar improvements in their regulatory process 
and, more importantly, in academic achievement.
  In response to a report released by the General Accounting Office on 
the Ed-Flex demonstration project, my proposal strengthens 
accountability in the program by ensuring that states demonstrate that 
student performance improves through the use of waivers and adds to the 
list of programs eligible for waiver under Ed-Flex. My proposal also 
ensures that states do not issue waivers to allow schools to 
participate in Title I that are more than 5 percent below the average 
poverty rate--thereby maintaining targeted funding for disadvantaged 
children.
  Ed-Flex facilitates a seamless system of services for students 
because the federal and state programs can be well coordinated. In 
testimony and reports submitted to Congress by the U.S. Department of 
Education, states gave examples of how Ed-Flex has given them not only 
greater flexibility, but also the ability to set even higher 
expectations for student performance--by asking for a higher level of 
accountability in exchange for Ed-Flex waivers. In addition, by 
enacting this legislation now, the immediate experiences of the States 
can help Congress identify the areas of federal regulatory burden for 
school districts. We can then address these problems during the 
reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Ed-Flex 
will allow our schools to work more creatively in meeting student needs 
while ensuring that important Federal education priorities remain in 
effect.

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