[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 34 (Thursday, March 4, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2240-S2242]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             EDUCATION FLEXIBILITY PARTNERSHIP ACT OF 1999

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I want to state very simply but strongly 
and unequivocally that I support S. 280, the Education Flexibility 
Partnership Act, and I support it very strongly. There is a very simple 
truth. That is, we need to trust our parents, trust our teachers, trust 
our local school boards. We should do everything in our power to 
unshackle our children from binding Federal Government-mandated rules 
that might make sense in Manhattan, NY, but not in Manhattan, MT.
  Two weeks ago I had the honor of addressing the Montana State 
legislature, and when I spoke I told them that the time has come to 
bring the promise of world-class education to every Montanan. I daresay 
that virtually everyone in this body has made the same statement, 
because he or she believes it very deeply, when speaking to his or her 
own legislatures back in their own States or to any group whatsoever 
that is interested in education. I believe very deeply we must do that.
  I also believe we need to ingrain that ethic into the hearts and 
minds of those who care about education all across our country. Indeed, 
it is similar to the environment. We are the stewards of our children's 
learning, and our future as a nation very deeply depends on our 
willingness to invest in them and our teachers and our schools all 
across our country.
  We have a moral responsibility to leave this Nation's children 
prepared to meet the challenges ahead. That challenge takes a unique 
form when we talk about meeting the standards of rural States. Nearly 
40 percent of the children who go to school in America every day go to 
a rural school in a small town, yet somehow we as a nation invest only 
22 percent of our total education funding in these students. Rural 
students are being shortchanged by a ratio of 2 to 1. I will work hard 
this year to see that every student in America, whether in urban 
America or in rural America, is provided for fairly and equally.

[[Page S2241]]

  But money alone is not enough. The Federal Government must be a 
partner in education with parents, teachers, and local schools, not an 
obstacle. Ed-Flex is the right step to take for our children. All Ed-
Flex does is say to States, if you come up with a better way to do your 
job, we will get out of your way and let you do it. Right now, a well-
meaning but confusing and distant Federal bureaucracy too often stands 
in their way. Let me give some examples.
  Say Federal funds allowed a small Montana school, or even a large New 
York City school, to purchase computers for students with disabilities. 
Those computers probably will not get used all day long, and it makes 
sense that these computers be utilized to help other students when 
disabled students do not need them. But Federal rules prevent other 
students from using those computers. Does that make sense? No. So, 
under Ed-Flex, States can get a waiver and use these computers to 
educate all our children.
  Another example: If a school has over 50 percent of its students who 
are under the poverty line, they can mix all of their Federal funds 
together, pool them with State funds, and create programs that help 
every student in that school. But what about schools in the next 
bracket, with between one-third and one-half of their students under 
the poverty line? In those schools, money for disadvantaged children 
must be spent directly on those children, even if that same money can 
be used in ways that will better educate the disadvantaged children and 
every other student in that school.
  The other day I talked to my very good friend, Nancy Keenan. Who is 
Nancy Keenan? She is the superintendent of public instruction for my 
State. There is no better friend to Montana schoolchildren than Nancy 
Keenan. She tells me that right now these schools beat their heads up 
against Federal rules, trying to untangle the redtape and convince 
folks over 2,000 miles away, back in Washington, DC, that their local 
plans make sense. It is very, very depressing. If this bill passes, 
Montana--all States--could get waivers so the schools could deal 
directly with the Nancys of the country, and their parents and 
teachers, to find a solution that works better for every child.
  It is time to restore trust back to the people. Right now, 12 States 
have been granted the right by Congress to experiment with education 
flexibility. You will not hear one Senator from those States stand up 
with even one instance where education flexibility has not worked. In 
fact, every State agrees that it allowed local folks to form 
partnerships, to create plans that work to better educate their 
children. That is all we want. We want our parents, our teachers, and 
local school boards, all working together, to give our children the 
very best. The Federal Government must be a better partner. We ought to 
do everything in our power to help our children. It is that simple.
  I believe the bill before us, Ed-Flex, is the right way to take care 
of it and I applaud Senators Wyden and Frist for their efforts. I very 
much hope this passes quickly.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I commend my colleague from Montana, 
Senator Baucus, for his work on education and his understanding that 
this is a key issue we need to address from the Federal level. Too 
often today we hear from people who say, ``No, this is a local issue, 
this is just a State issue.'' Of course it is; it is absolutely a local 
issue; it is absolutely a State issue. But we have to do our part, too, 
whether it is passing the Ed-Flex bill so we can reduce some of the 
bureaucratic regulations or whether it is providing additional 
resources for those districts to shrink class size or working with 
teacher-training and technology. These are things we have to address, 
and I thank my colleague from Montana for his work on this.
  Mr. President, I rise today to talk about an amendment I will be 
offering shortly on the Ed-Flex bill, which is going to be on the floor 
probably in the next several minutes. The amendment I offer is one that 
many of my colleagues have come to the floor to talk about and to 
support, because it is an issue that parents and teachers and community 
leaders and business leaders truly understand when it comes to the 
issue of education. That is the fact that too many of our classrooms 
are overcrowded; too many of our teachers are trying to teach to 
classes with 30 or 35 students. They are not giving students the 
individual attention they need in order for them to learn the skills 
that we need them to learn, whether it is reading or writing or math or 
science.
  The Murray-Kennedy amendment which I will be offering will simply 
authorize a 6-year effort to help our school districts hire 100,000 
new, well-trained teachers in grades 1 through 3. School districts will 
be able to use up to 15 percent of those funds for professional 
development activities so they can improve the quality of their 
teaching pool--something that all schools tell us they need. And, after 
meeting the target ratio of 1-to-18 in grades 1 through 3, school 
districts will be able to use the funds for professional development 
activities. This is an amendment, again, that parents and teachers and 
community leaders support. We have heard from law enforcement, we have 
heard from businesses, that we need to help address this from the 
national level.

  When parents send their children to school next fall--next fall, 6 
months from now--they are going to do what they do every fall when 
their child comes home from school on the first day. They are going to 
sit them down and they are going to ask them: Who is your teacher and 
how many children are in your class? They ask those questions because 
they know the number of students in the child's classroom will make a 
difference in their child's ability to learn that year and they know 
who their teacher is. If it is the best qualified teacher, their child 
will have a successful year.
  Next year, next fall when they ask that question, those schools that 
those children attend will have a new tool for helping students to 
learn. That is because of the budget bill we passed last year. Because 
of our actions, approximately 30,000 new, well-prepared teachers will 
go into classrooms across this country and we will be able to say we 
have made progress.
  Last year, as all of you will remember, I came to the Senate Chamber 
many times to fight to pass my bill, S. 2209, which was the Class Size 
Reduction and Teacher Quality Act of 1998.
  You will also recall that I finally got my language into the 
appropriations negotiations and then worked closely with the 
administration and with leaders here on Capitol Hill to get it passed, 
and it did pass, after a bipartisan discussion and in a bipartisan way. 
Last fall, last October, Republicans and Democrats alike touted their 
success at providing local school communities with much-needed help to 
improve learning for every child by reducing class size in grades 1 
through 3.
  The American people are watching this week as we talk about 
education. They fully expect this Congress to continue to support 
education efforts that really work, such as reducing class size and 
hiring quality teachers. They want to know whether what we did last 
October was just for a political moment or whether we really are 
committed to reducing class size so our children across this country 
will get the kind of education they need. We started the job last fall 
and now we need to finish it. We have to provide the schools the 
remainder of the funding necessary to hire 100,000 new and better 
prepared teachers over the next 6 years.
  Our first and best opportunity for a bipartisan solution is this 
debate on S. 280, which is the Ed-Flex bill that we are going to be 
discussing shortly. This is a perfect opportunity for early positive 
success, and people are watching to see if we are going to work 
together on this critical issue this year. This week Americans are 
telling Congress they want to see passage of the Murray-Kennedy 
amendment to reduce class size and improve teacher quality.
  Mr. President, my class size reduction proposal honors the bipartisan 
agreement we achieved last year. It requires no new forms and no 
redtape. It focuses on hiring new teachers, but it also makes 
investments in teacher quality from the outset. It allows districts 
that meet their goals of getting to 18 or fewer students in classes in 
grades 1 through 3, to be able to use that money to improve class size 
in

[[Page S2242]]

other grades, or to take steps to improve the quality of their teaching 
pool.

  Class size reduction isn't some new national idea. Local students, 
parents, teachers, State and local policymakers have asked for this 
kind of national investment in class size reduction for years. My 
proposal emphasizes local flexibility in making improvements.
  Mr. President, let me talk for a minute about the Ed-Flex bill. Both 
last year and this year I have been very supportive of the Education 
Flexibility Partnership Act. That is because I think to change thinking 
among local and State policymakers is a good thing. It frees them from 
some of the restrictions that may keep them and our public schools from 
becoming the best that they can be. But a change in thinking alone is 
not enough. Local schools need action. They need investment. They need 
resources in order to show measurable improvement for all children.
  With class size reduction funds, we will have new, well-trained 
teachers so every child, every child in this country, grades 1 through 
3, can get the attention they need and that they must have in order to 
improve the quality of their learning.
  Once local educators have a plan for improving student achievement, 
we must make key investments at the national level to help them get the 
job done. This means funding class size reduction, teacher quality 
improvement, and school construction. It also means passing Ed-Flex, 
which we all want to do. Today is our best chance to pass both Ed-Flex 
and class size reduction and send a strong message to local educators 
that we have heard their concerns and we are responding. Congress does 
need to pass Ed-Flex, but, more importantly, it must pass the Murray-
Kennedy amendment to reduce class size and improve teacher quality.
  Mr. President, we have to continue to improve the effort that we 
began last year, right here, in a bipartisan effort to help local 
schools, local teachers, and local communities get the results they 
need. Schools across this Nation are fully engaged in this debate right 
now over quality in learning and in identifying what works to improve 
learning for students. Local education leaders know that class size 
reduction is effective. They know as they reduce class size they can 
also improve the quality of their local teaching pool by improving 
professional development, training certification and recruitment.
  Local communities are using the Federal class size and teacher 
quality effort as a way to beef up their own investment in the future 
of young people. Governors and State legislators across this country 
are proposing class size investments this year based on our successful 
efforts of last year. They are watching to see whether or not we really 
mean that we are committed to class size reduction or it was just a 
political move from last year.
  In Washington State, my home State, Governor Gary Locke and key State 
legislators are debating these investments right now in Olympia and 
watching what we are doing so there is an important reason right now to 
pass the class size amendment today. Local school districts, school 
boards across this country--and I was a former school board member so I 
know what they do in February and March; they put their budgets 
together for the following years--are looking to us to see if we are 
going to continue this investment so that they can begin to put their 
budgets together and hire the staffs they need to make a commitment to 
now, so when those first hires are made in July, they know that this 
just wasn't a one-time bill, but this bipartisan Senate and Congress, 
this administration meant what they said last fall when they said class 
size reduction is a national priority.

  We cannot wait to pass this amendment. We need to do it now so that 
those school boards and those local communities know that we say what 
we mean and we follow up on it right here in Washington, DC.
  I will be offering this amendment later. I hope to be talking again 
about it today. This is clearly an issue for which parents and 
communities are looking to us, to trust the Federal Government. Will 
they follow up on their word? Will they make an investment that 
actually makes a difference? As we go through this debate, I will show 
you, all of my colleagues, and the country, studies that show that 
class size reduction makes a difference in student learning. We have a 
responsibility as the Federal Government. We have to live up to our 
commitment and not just make promises about education but truly make 
investments that work.
  I thank my colleagues for the time this morning. I look forward to 
their support in a bipartisan way for the class size amendment.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Allard). The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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