[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 126 (Friday, September 24, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11423-S11424]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           EDUCATION FUNDING

  Mr. CLELAND. Mr. President, it has been marvelous to listen to the 
eloquence of the distinguished Senator on the high-tech environment of 
Duck Hill, MS. It reminds me of my own educational background in 
Lithonia, GA, at little Lithonia Elementary School there. I worshiped 
my second- and third- and fourth-grade, fifth-grade teachers, too. But 
by no means do I want to go back to those days in 1953 and 1954.
  This is 1999. We are fixing to go into a new millennium and a new 
century. I am afraid this country is about to go into this new century, 
with great opportunity ahead of it, with minimal opportunity for our 
citizens to take advantage of it.
  Bill Gates, who has become preeminent as a thinker and an innovator, 
and certainly one who is interested in the cause of education, has put 
it clearly. He said: It is clear that our ability to continue 
benefiting from technology will largely depend on how well we educate 
the next generation to take advantage of this new era.
  I don't think anyone really questions the wisdom of Mr. Gates. The 
challenge, of course, is to live up to that challenge Mr. Gates has put 
before us. He not only talks the talk; he walks the walk. Last week, 
Bill Gates pledged to spend $1 billion to provide college scholarships 
to thousands of deserving but financially needy students across the 
country. This gift is the largest individual contribution to education 
in history. We can learn something from the leadership our business 
leaders around America are now showing. I think the Senate leadership 
can learn something.
  We are only 4 months away from the year 2000. We must not forget the 
future of this country is in very small hands. Yet despite all the 
rhetoric, the great speeches, and the fact that three out of four 
Americans in the latest Washington Post/ABC poll put improving 
education No. 1 on the national agenda, what we see here in the agenda

[[Page S11424]]

of the Senate is a desire to raid the education pot to pay for other 
programs higher up on someone else's national agenda.

  How do I say that? If the words of our distinguished majority leader 
are true and the tremendous commitment he has shown on the floor today 
is actually true, then I wonder why the Subcommittee on Labor, Health 
and Human Services, and Education of the Committee on Appropriations of 
this great Senate has reduced the money for education by 17 percent 
over last year's levels. If all this rhetoric is really true, why are 
we, in the background, in some subcommittee on appropriations, cutting 
17 percent out of education funding from last year?
  I agree with the words of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, the great 
British Prime Minister of the last century, when he said for his 
countrymen in that century words that ring true for us as we go into a 
new century. He said: Upon the education of the people of this country, 
the fate of this country depends.
  If I had to sum up our challenge as a Nation--and I am on the Armed 
Services Committee, and I know we are challenged in our military 
defense of this great Nation--I would say to you, without an educated 
workforce, without an educated defense force, we cannot compete in the 
world, either economically or in terms of our own defense.
  The sad part about it is, every day in America almost 2,800 high 
school students drop out. The United States, once the leader in high 
school graduation among industrialized nations, now trails 22 nations 
and leads only 1, Mexico. This is not acceptable. This will not get us 
where we want to go in the next century. Each school year, more than 
45,000 underprepared teachers, teachers who have not even been trained 
in the subjects they are teaching, enter the classroom. Who here among 
us believes this to be acceptable? I don't. Most fourth graders cannot 
read and understand a simple children's book, and most eighth graders 
can't use arithmetic to solve a practical problem--that according to a 
recent survey in Education Week. Who would argue in this body we have 
to do better?
  Last year, there were 4,000 reports of rape and sexual battery in 
America's public schools. We have had an outbreak of violence in the 
schools. Remember Littleton, Jonesboro, Conyers? School shootings were 
unheard of in this Nation 20 years ago. Who here would not do 
everything in their power to restore safety and sanity to America's 
schools?
  The truth is, Democrats and Republicans alike have to raise this to 
the top of our agenda. It is time to put education first and put first 
things first. We have to be willing to invest in the Nation's future, 
improve the recruitment and retention of professional teachers.
  We have to improve our test scores, although that is not, in my 
opinion, the single-most important goal of our public educational 
system. The most important goal is to teach kids to think. I remember a 
story about Bill Gates. Out in Seattle, his mother went out in the 
garage where Bill was and said, ``Son, what are you doing?'' He said, 
``Mother, I'm thinking.'' That is the goal of our public educational 
system.
  The Public Schools Excellence Act recognizes America's ability to 
attract and retain qualified teachers is key to quality education. S. 
7, of which I am a cosponsor, would provide local school districts with 
the help and support they need to recruit excellent teacher candidates. 
I agree, the States are the leaders in educational improvement. They 
have to be. I was a State official, with 4 years in the State senate 
and 12 years as secretary of state. I spent more time as a State 
official than I have as a Federal official. But it is obvious, a lot of 
our school systems in our States can't get to where we need them to be 
without some Federal help. Who would deny that?
  We need 100,000 new, trained, qualified teachers in this country. One 
reason is to reduce class size in grades 1 through 3. Every index I 
have seen of student performance--and part of the key to student 
excellence and achievement is the reduction of the pupil-teacher ratio, 
particularly in grades 1 through 3. No matter how you cut it, a teacher 
with 10 or 15 students in the class, regardless of where those teachers 
and students are--what State, what district, what county--they learn 
more and do better than a teacher who has 30 or 35 kids in the class.
  We have another problem: 14 million children in the U.S.A. attend 
schools in need of extensive repair or replacement. I come from a State 
that is fast-growing, and it is hard to build enough classrooms, 
particularly in Metropolitan Atlanta. If you look around my State, a 
recent survey pointed out that in Georgia some 62 percent of our 
classroom buildings need repair. We have had legislation on the floor 
of the Senate to deal with this. We have not dealt with it.
  There is another issue. Every day, 5 million children have to care 
for themselves in the hours before and after school. When I was growing 
up, in my hometown of Lithonia, when I came home--and my mother and 
father were working--my grandmother was there. I was not a latchkey 
kid. The truth is, in that key time period from 3 o'clock to 8 o'clock 
at night, half of all the violent juvenile crime in this country takes 
place. This is a key period for our youngsters in America. Why can't we 
help out?
  Today, only a virtual handful of children participate in good 
afterschool care. Let's not cut educational funding from what it was 
last year by 17 percent. Let's not let this subcommittee, behind our 
backs, cut the feet out from under us as we make great speeches on the 
floor of how many of us support education.
  Let us actually take a lesson from Bill Gates: Let us help our 
communities reduce juvenile crime by investing our dollars in 
afterschool care. That is one of the challenges before us and one of 
the programs that was cut by the subcommittee.
  Let me say also that I think we ought to take the words of Benjamin 
Disraeli to heart as we enter this debate next week, as it is a truism: 
``An investment in education is an investment in the future of 
America.''
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. ROTH addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Senator from 
Delaware.

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