[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 147 (Tuesday, October 26, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13150-S13151]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT FOR ALL ACT

  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I rise to express my gratitude and my 
appreciation to the House of Representatives for an action it took last 
week, under the leadership of Congressman Goodling, chairman of the 
House committee dealing with education. The House has now passed the 
Academic Achievement For All Act, or Straight A's, a concept and a 
crusade in which Mr. Goodling and I have joined as sponsors in our 
respective Houses of Congress. It is so dramatic a reform, so dramatic 
an expression of understanding on the part of the majority of the 
Members of the House of Representatives, that those who provide 
educational services for our children--their teachers and principals 
and superintendents and elected school board members, not to mention 
their parents--ought to be empowered to use the money they receive from 
the Federal Government for that education in a way they deem best, 
given the circumstances of each child and of each of the 17,000 school 
districts in the United States.
  That philosophy is very much at variance with the standard philosophy 
of Acts of Congress, which increasingly over the years have told our 
schools in detail what they must teach, how they must teach it, and how 
they must account for it if they are to receive a modest percentage of 
their budgets that Congress itself supplies to them.
  In order to pass Straight A's through the House of Representatives, 
Mr. Goodling and his supporters had to scale it back to a 10-State 
experiment.
  Even at that level, I believe it will be a dramatic reform, not 
simply because it provides this trust in our local educators and 
parents and school board

[[Page S13151]]

members, but because it carries with it a requirement for 
accountability that is a real bottom line requirement; that is to say, 
in order to take advantage of Straight A's, a State must have a system 
of determining, through some type of examination or a test, whether or 
not it is actually improving the educational achievement of the 
children under its care. It is only results that count in Straight A's 
and not how you fill out the forms or what the auditors say you have 
done with the money.
  I believe we in the Senate will take up Straight A's in that form, or 
in some similar form, sometime during the winter or very early spring 
of the year 2000 when we deal with the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act. But I am delighted that we have made such progress 
already in the House of Representatives.
  Simply to ratify some of my remarks, I want to share with my 
colleagues comments that we have received from across the country about 
this dramatic change in Federal education policy:

       I am pleased to offer my support to the Academic 
     Achievement for All Act. This proposal, if enacted into law, 
     would serve to complement the Commonwealth of Virginia's 
     nationally-acclaimed national education reforms.

  Governor James Gilmore of Virginia.

       A new relationship between the states and Washington, as 
     reflected in Straight A's, can refocus federal policies and 
     funds on increasing student achievement.

  Governor Jeb Bush of Florida.

       Straight A's would allow us to use federal funds to 
     implement our goals while assuring taxpayers that every 
     dollar spent on education is a dollar spent to boost 
     children's learning.

  Governor John Engler of Michigan.

       I'm not a Democrat or a Republican. I'm a superintendent. 
     And what Gorton is trying to do would be the best for our 
     kids.

  Superintendent Joseph Olchefske, Seattle public schools.

       The Straight A's Act will allow those closest to the action 
     to make decisions about education in their own local school 
     district.

  Robert Warnecke, Washington State Retired Teachers Association.

       Senator Gorton's Straight A's proposals is well-conceived 
     with great flexibility for states and districts. It would 
     help to focus federal resources where they are most needed.

  Janet Barry, Issaquah Superintendent and 1996 National Superintendent 
of the Year.

       I look forward to the debate in the Senate on these changes 
     with particular delight because the House of Representatives' 
     majority has already said that this is the direction in which 
     we ought to lead the country.

  (The remarks of Mr. Crapo pertaining to the introduction of S. 1795 
are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. CRAPO. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ABRAHAM. 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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