[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 50 (Thursday, April 27, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S2964]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               EDUCATION

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, on the issue of education, the elementary 
and secondary education legislation will be coming to the floor in the 
next several days, according to what the leader has announced. I wish 
to indicate, once again, the position of those of us on this side of 
the aisle and what we tried to do in the markup of the education 
proposal several weeks ago.
  We attempted to follow some of the rather radical, but significant, 
changes we have seen as a result of enhanced and improved academic 
achievement at the local level. We want some guarantees because of the 
scarce resources available to us.
  As my colleagues know, 7 cents out of every dollar for education 
comes from the Federal Government. We are strongly committed on this 
side of the aisle to building on tried and tested programs that are 
indicating enhanced achievement for the children of this country, 
rather than the alternative, which is a block grant program our 
Republican friends have supported.
  We will have a chance to go through their legislation. It is S. 2. 
Instead of providing targeted resources to local communities for 
improving teacher quality, smaller class size, afterschool programs, 
the majority, in this lengthy legislation, says it should be ``. . . 
determination of State participation, the Governor of a State''--not 
the local parents, not the local school board, not the local community, 
but the Governor of a State--``in consultation with the individual body 
responsible for the education of the State shall determine. . . .'' We 
will go through the legislation next week,
  Their legislation says 5 years later there is going to be an 
accounting. We, on this side, do not want to wait 5 years to find out 
if their particular block grant program has been effective. All one has 
to do is go back to 1965 to 1969. We provided block grants to the 
States under the title I program. We will go through some of this 
during the debate. The State of Tennessee--all States have indicated 
how they utilized the money--purchased 18 portable swimming pools in 
the summer of 1966 at $3,500 each. The justification was that funds 
originally approved for a summer remedial program would not be spent 
and the money would otherwise go unspent. There is the buying of 
football uniforms in some States, and the buying of musical instruments 
for groups not even affected by title I. We will go through what has 
happened historically with the block grant program.
  Our programs are targeted to make sure we have a well-trained teacher 
in every classroom. We believe the overwhelming majority of American 
parents understand that and want that. We want to make sure we have 
smaller class sizes. We do not need more studies. We have had all the 
studies, and we have the results. We understand, as Senator Murray has 
pointed out so effectively, that smaller class sizes result in enhanced 
academic achievement. We believe, with the scarce resources available, 
we ought to invest in a guaranteed program with guaranteed results of 
having the smaller class sizes. We believe in afterschool programs 
which are so important.
  Modern, safer schools: Our schools are too crowded, out-of-date, and 
dilapidated. We owe it to our children to modernize our schools--to 
have more classrooms, to provide modern teaching facilities, and to 
provide our children with a safe and orderly learning environment.
  Accountability for results: We should hold schools accountable for 
results. We don't want to write a blank check to the states. We want 
federal education dollars to go to proven programs that will bring 
about real change. And we should require schools to use scarce federal 
dollars to bring about that change.
  A greater role for parents: Children and schools need the support of 
parents. Senator Reed will propose an amendment to give parents a 
stronger role in the education of their children and in the decision-
making in their local schools.
  Gun safety: We should give gun safety top priority when it comes to 
our children and our schools. Child safety locks on guns should be a 
requirement. And we should close the gun show loophole that has proven 
so deadly to our children and our schools. The Senate passed such 
legislation last year, but it languishes in conference. We should act 
again--this time in earnest--to protect our children and our schools 
from gun violence.
  Republican colleagues will talk about change--they talk about having 
better teachers and safer schools. But if you read their bill, they 
just perpetuate the status quo. All they want to do is give more money 
to the governors and the states to use for their favorite programs. 
There is no guarantee under the Republican bill that your local school 
will spend the money on smaller classes, safer schools, or better 
teachers.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  Mr. KENNEDY. I thank the Chair.

                          ____________________