[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 52 (Tuesday, May 2, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E613-E614]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


              THE SAFE AND SUCCESSFUL SCHOOLS ACT OF 2000

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. WILLIAM (BILL) CLAY

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 2, 2000

  Mr. CLAY. Mr. Speaker, today I introduce the Safe and Successful 
Schools Act of 2000. It will help modernize our public schools by 
providing grants and loans for up to 8,300 renovation projects in high-
need school districts. It will continue the highly successful class 
size reduction program by helping communities hire an additional 20,000 
highly qualified teachers. It will boost investments in quality after-
school and summer school programs advocated by the President. It will 
help us close the digital divide that currently leaves too many poor 
children and their teachers behind. It will bolster safe and drug free 
school programs, and strengthen programs to reduce hate crimes by 
children.
  ESEA is our nation's flagship education partnership with local 
communities. It provides vital assistance to the most vulnerable, 
educationally challenged children in America. Until this Congress, the 
ESEA had enjoyed a rich and enduring history of bipartisanship.
  Unfortunately, Senate and House Republicans have been highly partisan 
and divisive. At the beginning of the ESEA process, we urged 
Republicans to work in a bipartisan way. Instead, they proceeded in a 
highly partisan manner and created havoc throughout the reauthorization 
process. In the House, they carved up the ESEA into seven disjointed 
pieces--hoping to bolster their devastating public image and terrible 
performance on education.
  Today, the ESEA process is in shambles. Straight A's, the Republican 
education block grant bill, has a veto threat pending and has no chance 
of becoming law. Their Teacher Empowerment bill has a veto threat 
pending because of its gratuitous attack and block granting of the 
Clinton Class Size Reduction Act. Conservative Republican Members are 
blocking floor action on two other ESEA bills, Even Start and Impact 
Aid. And the one major bipartisan bill, H.R. 2, has been sharply and 
publicly attacked by reactionary Republican Members of the Education 
and Workforce Committee.
  Republicans repeatedly refused to work with Democrats to craft the 
pending ESEA bill, H.R. 4141, and voted in mass to defeat 52 of 54 
amendments offered by Democratic Members. The bill passed out of 
committee is a legislative disaster. Every major education group 
opposes the bill. The President will probably veto it.
  Because the Republicans have decided to play politics with America's 
school children, they have placed in jeopardy passage of this 
comprehensive Federal aid program to education. If the Republicans 
leave town this year without enacting the ESEA, it would be the first 
time that the program has permanently lapsed in its 35-year history.
  I urge the Republican leadership to stop playing politics with our 
nation's school children, and pass ESEA legislation that can bring 
urgent relief and assistance to our public schools this year.

   The Democratic Agenda: Demonstrating a National Commitment to Our 
                        Nation's Public Schools


              The Safe and Successful Schools Act of 2000

      Helping Communities Repair and Modernize Unsafe Schoolhouses

       Communities across the country are struggling to address 
     critical needs to build new schools and renovate existing 
     one. One-third of all public schools--about 25,000 schools--
     need extensive repair or replacement. A recent survey 
     documented over $250 billion dollars of unmet school 
     modernization funding need.
       The Safe and Successful Schools Act of 2000 authorizes $1.3 
     billion annually to help communities make emergency school 
     renovations such as repairing roofs, fixing dangerous 
     electrical wiring and plumbing, bringing schools into 
     compliance with fire safety codes, undertaking asbestos 
     removal or abatement, and removing lead-based paint. The Act 
     will support up to 8,300 renovation projects in high-poverty, 
     high-need school districts that have little or no capacity to 
     fund urgent repairs over the next five years.

                  Reducing Class Sizes/Smaller Schools

       Research shows that class size reduction in the early 
     grades is one of the most direct and effective ways to boost 
     student academic achievement, especially among populations of 
     disadvantaged children. Smaller class sizes ensure that every 
     child receives personal attention, gets a solid foundation 
     for further learning, and learns to read independently by the 
     end of the third grade. The Safe and Successful Schools Act 
     of 2000 continues the Clinton/Clay class size reduction 
     program that is helping communities hire and pay for 100,000 
     new, fully qualified teachers.
       The Act also reauthorizes the Small, Safe and Successful 
     High Schools program, which helps high schools to create 
     smaller, safer learning environments. Research has shown that 
     the size of a school and the number of its students greatly 
     impact children's ability to learn and the likelihood that 
     violence may occur.

                       Accountability for Results

       The bill requires schools reducing class sizes to hire only 
     fully qualified teachers. The bill strengthens ESEA 
     technology programs by focusing on the achievement of 
     performance indicators and the correlation between technology 
     and improved student achievement. The Act requires school 
     safety and drug abuse prevention programs to be based on 
     sound research, and strengthens reporting and eligibility 
     criteria for the Title VI program, increasing program 
     accountability.

    Providing Safe After-School Learning Opportunities for Students

       Extended learning programs reduce juvenile crime by 
     providing a wide range of education, social, mentoring, and 
     counseling services to help improve student behavior, 
     including services relating to violence prevention and 
     conflict resolution. Recent research has demonstrated that 
     extended learning programs help improve student achievement 
     in reading and math, and reduce truancy and dropout rates.
       The Safe and Successful Schools Act more than doubles our 
     investment to $1 billion, in the 21st Century Community 
     Learning Centers program. This program enables schools to 
     stay open longer, providing safe and educational after-school 
     opportunities for some 700,000 school age children in rural 
     and urban communities each year, and vital social health, and 
     educational services for their families.

[[Page E614]]

  Providing Safe and Drug Free Schools/Keeping Guns Out of Our Schools

       America's students cannot be expected to learn to high 
     standards if they are threatened by drugs and violence. There 
     is a high level of concern by parents and students about 
     school safety and violence caused in part by the tragic 
     shootings at Columbine High School and other schools in the 
     past two years.
       The legislation will increase funding for the Safe and Drug 
     Free Schools Act, and enhance its accountability and 
     performance through the adoption of research-based programs. 
     It also authorizes the Secretary of Education to set aside $5 
     million annually to fund strong, community-based hate crime 
     prevention activities.
       The bill requires school districts, with a history of 
     suspensions and expulsions for gun violence or possession, to 
     work with law enforcement agencies to promote the use of 
     child safety locks.
       Lastly, the bill provides new, additional support for 
     school-based alternative education programs to address the 
     educational needs of students who are suspended or expelled 
     from school. This authority will increase the safety of both 
     our schools and communities by ensuring that discipline and 
     violence problems leading to suspensions and explusions do 
     not spill over into the community.

            Recruiting and Maintaining High Quality Teachers

       The Safe and Successful Schools Act of 2000 requires all 
     teachers to become certified or fully licensed, and have 
     knowledge of the subjects they teach. The bill creates a 
     ``Parent Right to Know'' requirement to ensure that parents 
     are made aware of the professional qualifications and 
     expertise of their children's teacher. It also includes a 
     provision requiring that parents be notified when their child 
     is being taught by an underqualified or substitute teacher 
     for more than two consecutive weeks.
       It also authorizes $50 million to help high-poverty school 
     districts attract and retain teachers and principals through 
     better pay. To become eligible, schools would have to 
     undertake rigorous peer review of every teacher, improve 
     systems to remove low-performing teachers, and provide 
     intensive support to give the opportunity for all teachers to 
     succeed.

  Expanding Access to Education Technology/Closing the Digital Divide

       Technology in the schools can substantially improve student 
     learning, classroom management, the professional development 
     of teachers, and assessment of student progress. Most 
     importantly, strong school technology programs report 
     significant impact on gains in student achievement in 
     reading, writing, and mathematics. Technology has its 
     greatest impact with low-income and rural students as well as 
     with expanding opportunities for girls. Unfortunately, the 
     ``digital divide'' still separates the technology haves and 
     the technology have-nots--leaving our most disadvantaged 
     children without vital knowledge and tools to compete with 
     their more advantaged peers.
       The Safe and Successful Schools Act of 2000 increases the 
     Federal commitment to technology and closing the digital 
     divide. The Act provides $500 million for the Technology 
     Literacy Challenge Fund program, to help the most 
     disadvantaged school districts to provide educators with 
     sustained, high quality training to integrate technology in 
     their classrooms and provide students with the latest access 
     to advantaged technology resources. The Act creates a $50 
     million Go Girls program to help encourage the ongoing 
     interest in girls in science, mathematics and technology, and 
     prepare girls to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees 
     and careers in science, mathematics, or technology. The bill 
     will provide new support for restructuring teacher education 
     programs so that new teachers are proficient in the use of 
     educational technologies and can integrate technology 
     throughout their instructional practices. Lastly, it also 
     creates new initiatives to develop and expand cutting edge 
     technologies to improve teaching and learning, and to 
     establish community technology centers in the neediest 
     communities.

     

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