[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 112 (Wednesday, September 20, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8816-S8817]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




NORTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR JIM HUNT ON EDUCATION REFORM--VOUCHERS ARE THE 
                              WRONG ANSWER

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, one of our top priorities in Congress is 
to improve public schools for all students--by reducing class size, 
improving training and support for teachers, expanding after-school 
programs, modernizing and building safe school facilities, and 
increasing accountability for results. But some in Congress advocate 
diverting scarce resources to subsidize private schools through 
vouchers, when it is public schools that need the help and support.
  An article in today's Wall Street Journal by North Carolina Governor 
Jim Hunt eloquently explains why we should do more to support public 
schools, and why we should oppose private school vouchers.
  Governor Hunt is a respected leader and renowned champion on 
education issues. He has been a strong advocate for many years for 
improving public schools, particularly by upgrading curricula, 
supporting better teacher training, and increasing early childhood 
education opportunities. As Governor Hunt states, it would be a step in 
the wrong direction to undermine these important priorities by relying 
on voucher schemes, just as we are starting to see solid results in 
improved student achievement.
  I believe that Governor Hunt's article will be of interest to all of 
us who care about these issues, and I ask unanimous consent that it may 
be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

          [From The Wall Street Journal, Wed., Sept. 20, 2000]

                     The Voucher Chorus Is Off-Key

                      (By Gov. James B. Hunt Jr.)

       We are hearing a chorus of voices arguing that school 
     vouchers are the key to improving American education, 
     especially for minority groups and other low-income students 
     in urban areas. We are accustomed to hearing such arguments 
     from the political right, but now the voices are sounding in 
     stereo.
       My friend Robert Reich has taken to the pages of The Wall 
     Street Journal to propose a far-reaching voucher plan (``The 
     Case for `Progressive' Vouchers,'' editorial page, Sept. 6). 
     With all due respect to Mr. Reich and his allies on both the 
     right and the left, let me suggest that vouchers are the 
     wrong solution to the wrong problem at the wrong time. 
     Instead of focusing on how to improve schools, they assume 
     that pulling money out of failing schools provides an 
     appropriate incentive to turn such schools around.
       But school improvement is hard work. In 1983, Americans 
     received a wake-up call about public schools. In a stinging 
     report ``A Nation at Risk,'' a blue-ribbon national 
     commission warned that the level of teaching and learning in 
     primary and secondary schools was so low that it threatened 
     our economic competitiveness. As a result, a national 
     movement was launched to improve academic performance. 
     Virtually every state has now spelled out high standards for 
     student achievement, many of them enforced by tests for 
     promotion and graduation from high school. Rigorous 
     accountability systems have been introduced for teachers and 
     school administrators accompanied by monetary incentives for 
     success and sanctions for failure. Many states are focusing 
     on reducing class sizes.
       It has taken us nearly two decades to put together these 
     and other strategies relating to curricula, teacher training, 
     early childhood education and other elements that contribute 
     to a successful school, and they are now paying off. It is 
     wishful thinking to assert, as voucher proponents do, that 
     struggling schools will somehow magically transform 
     themselves because of a threat that some of their students 
     will take a voucher, pack up their book bags and go 
     elsewhere.
       Vouchers address the wrong problem by narrowing the issue. 
     Few would dispute that private schools can provide a good 
     academic education. But there is a group of students whose 
     needs must also be considered: the 90% of our kids who will 
     remain in public schools. Mr. Reich acknowledges that the 
     ``closest thing we've seen to a national school-voucher 
     experiment'' occurred in New Zealand and that the result of 
     that decade-long experiment was that ``the worst schools grew 
     worse.'' The New Zealand study proves the point of voucher 
     opponents. We cannot support a policy of educational triage 
     that allows a few students to get help while neglecting the 
     needs of the many more students left behind.
       Finally, the current push for vouchers is ill-timed. As 
     already noted, we now have evidence that the concerted 
     efforts in recent years to improve the teaching and learning 
     that occurs in public schools is paying off. In North 
     Carolina we have the ABCs of Public Education, a reform 
     effort that emphasizes accountability at the school level. 
     During the 1999-2000 school year 69.6% of our 2,100 public 
     schools met or exceeded their growth standards on achievement 
     tests. For schools that are falling behind, our state 
     dispatches special teams to fix the lowest performing 
     schools--not withdraw funds, as voucher proponents would have 
     us do.
       While we are raising the standards, we are also raising the 
     pay of those in the classroom to the national average. In 
     addition, teachers, guidance counselors and administrators 
     can receive as much as $1,500 each and teaching assistants as 
     much as $500 if their schools reach a certain level of 
     proficiency. The RAND Corp. report found that between 1990 
     and 1996 students in our state showed the highest average 
     annual gain on the National Assessment of Education Progress 
     reading and math tests. Our state's average total SAT score 
     moved up two points in 1999-2000, continuing the upward

[[Page S8817]]

     trend the state has experienced since 1989. We also have the 
     highest number of teachers who've proven their expertise by 
     earning certification through the National Board for 
     Professional Teaching Standards.
       Voucher proponents do make one point that needs to be taken 
     seriously--vouchers can contribute to diversity and 
     innovation in the system. It is true that we have moved well 
     beyond the point where one-size-fits-all education is 
     adequate. We need to encourage schools to offer a variety of 
     approaches. But this can readily be achieved, as is already 
     happening, within the public system through the design and 
     promotion of magnet, subject-focused and other alternative 
     schools that meet the specific interests of students and 
     their parents while meeting high standards.
       Let's also not assume, as has been implied by Mr. Reich, 
     that where parents live determines their level of interest in 
     schools. An expensive home in the suburbs doesn't guarantee a 
     parent is passionate about where their children are learning. 
     We need to make sure every parent is active and involved with 
     his or her child's education.

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