[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 139 (Sunday, October 29, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11336-S11337]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     EXTENSION OF MORNING BUSINESS

  Mr. SESSIONS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that morning 
business be extended with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 
minutes each until 7:30 p.m.
  Mr. REID. Reserving the right to object, will the time from now until 
7:30 be equally divided? I think the Republicans may have extra minutes 
remaining from the earlier hour. Could the Chair tell us how much time 
the Republicans have used?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On the Republican side, there is approximately 
10 minutes remaining; on the Democratic side, there is 1 minute 
remaining.
  Mr. REID. I ask that the Chair take that into consideration in 
dividing up the next approximately 55 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the time being equally 
divided between the parties?
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. The time that has been allocated, the 10 minutes to 
the majority and 1 minute to the minority, should go forward, after 
which it would be equally divided.
  Mr. REID. That is what I said.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Madam President, to conclude on this education matter, 
this Congress has been responsible. It has increased funding for 
education well above the inflation rate. It has increased funding for 
education the last 2 years that I have been on the education committee, 
I know for a fact, above what the President asked for.
  We believe that money ought to be sent down to the States. It ought 
to be sent to them, and they ought to be challenged to develop, as 
Texas did, a plan of excellence. That ought to be ultimately determined 
by good, sound testing that that State adopts so it can tell whether 
learning is occurring.
  There are schools in this country, unfortunately, where learning is 
not occurring. They are dysfunctional schools. We do not need to keep 
putting money in those kinds of circumstances. Good quality testing can 
tell whether learning is occurring. We ought to allow the men and women 
whom you and I elect in our hometowns all over America to decide how to 
run that fundamentally.
  Yes, we will want to have controls on it, certain rules and 
regulations, but fundamentally we need to have a different mindset. We 
need to have a mindset that says to the educators, the people who are 
in our classroom, that we trust you, we are trying to help you, not 
make your life more troublesome, not giving you more headaches and 
paperwork; we want to help you teach our children, to help create more 
magic moments in that classroom where learning occurs.
  There are good schools in Alabama and all over America. I have been 
in those schools. I had the honor to acknowledge a few days ago Mr. 
Terry Beasley, the principal of the year for the State of Alabama. He 
taught my children in public schools in Alabama.

[[Page S11337]]

 He is a magnificent person with an unbelievable degree of dedication 
to learning. He has gone from one of the greatest teachers I have known 
to one of the best principals one would know.
  There are people like that all over the system. We are not helping 
them. This governmental regulation and bureaucracy is making it worse 
and making their lives more difficult. We can improve that, but not the 
way we are going. We are going to need some changes.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.

                          ____________________