[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 18 (Thursday, February 8, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1207-S1208]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 THE PUBLIC EDUCATION REINVESTMENT, REINVENTION AND RESPONSIBILITY ACT

  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I am very pleased to rise today in support 
of the Public Education Reinvestment, Reinvention, and Responsibility 
Act. I want to congratulate my good friends, the Senator from 
Connecticut and the Senator from Indiana, for their strong leadership 
on this issue. When they first introduced this legislation back last 
year, the prospects for bipartisan education reform looked far 
different than they do today. Members on the two sides of the aisle 
were sharply divided over the future of the Federal role in education. 
As a result, the Congress failed last year to reauthorize the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act for the first time in its 35-
year history.
  Last year, it took courage and foresight for the supporters of this 
legislation to step into the partisan breach in the way that they did. 
This bill received all of 13 votes when it was first brought to the 
floor. Today, we ought to all be grateful for the leadership of those 
13 senators, because this year the Public Education Reinvestment, 
Reinvention, and Responsibility Act represents the best hope and the 
best blueprint for finally achieving meaningful, bipartisan reform of 
the Federal role in education.
  For the last eight years, I had the great privilege of serving my 
little State as governor. During that time, I worked together with 
legislators from both sides of the aisle, with educators and others, to 
set rigorous standards, to provide local schools with the resources and 
flexibility they needed, and in return to demand accountability for 
results. We in Delaware have not been alone in this endeavor. We have 
been part of a nationwide movement for change--a movement of parents 
and teachers, of employers, legislators and governors, who believe that 
our public schools can be improved and that every child can learn.
  As a former chairman of the National Governors' Association, I can 
attest that the Federal Government is frequently a lagging indicator 
when it comes to responsiveness to change. It

[[Page S1208]]

is clearly states and local communities that are leading the movement 
for change in public education today. The bill we introduce today does 
not seek to make the Federal Government the leader in education reform 
by micromanaging the operation of local schools. Nor does this 
legislation seek to perpetuate the status quo in which the Federal 
Government passively funds and facilitates failure. Rather, this 
legislation seeks for the first time to make the Federal Government a 
partner and catalyst in the movement for reform that we see all across 
this country at the State and local level. This legislation refocuses 
Federal policy on doing a few things, but doing them well. It redirects 
Federal policy toward the purpose of achieving results rather than 
promulgating yet more rules and regulations.
  I believe we have a tremendous opportunity this year to achieve 
bipartisan consensus to reform and reauthorize the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act, and in so doing to redeem the original intent 
of that landmark legislation. I want to express my appreciation to our 
new President for his interest in renewing educational opportunity in 
America and leaving no child behind. There is much in the legislation 
we introduce today that squares with the plan that the President sent 
to Congress last week. We on this side of the aisle agree with the 
President that we need to invest more Federal dollars in our schools, 
particularly in schools that serve the neediest students. We also agree 
that the dollars we provide, we should provide more flexibly. And we 
agree that if we are going to provide more money, and if we are going 
to provide that money more flexibly, we should demand results. That's 
the formula: invest in reform; insist on results.
  I believe we also agree with our new President that parents should be 
empowered to make choices to send their children to a variety of 
different schools. We agree that parents are the first enforcers of 
accountability in public education. Where we disagree is in how we 
provide that choice. The President believes that the best way to 
empower parents and to provide them with choices is to give children 
and their parents vouchers of $1,500. With all due respect, that is an 
empty promise. In my State, you just can't get your child into most 
private or parochial schools for $1,500 per year. That is simply an 
empty promise.
  I believe there is a better way. I believe we've found a better way 
in my little state of Delaware. Four years ago, we introduced statewide 
public school choice. We also passed our first charter schools law. I 
knew that this was going to work when I heard the following 
conversation between a school administrator and some of his colleagues. 
He said, ``If we don't provide parents and families what they want and 
need, they'll send their kids somewhere else.'' I thought to myself, 
``Right! He's got it.''
  We have 200 public schools in my small State, and students in all of 
these schools take our test measuring what they know and can do in 
reading, writing, and math. We also measure our schools by the 
incidence of poverty, from highest to lowest. The school with the 
highest incidence of poverty in my state is the East Side Charter 
School in Wilmington, Delaware. The incidence of poverty there is 83 
percent. Its students are almost all minority. It is right in the 
center of the projects in Wilmington. In the first year after East Side 
Charter School opened its doors, very few of its students met our state 
standards in math. Last spring, every third grader there who took our 
math test met or exceeded our standards, which is something that 
happened at no other school in the state. It's a remarkable story. And 
it's been possible because East Side Charter School is a remarkable 
school. Kids can come early and stay late. They have a longer school 
year. They wear school uniforms. Parents have to sign a contract of 
mutual responsibility. Teachers are given greater authority to innovate 
and initiate.
  We need to ensure that parents and students are getting what they 
want and need, and if they're not getting what they want and need that 
they have the choice--and most importantly that they have the ability--
to go somewhere else. A $1,500 voucher, doesn't give parents that 
ability, at least not in my State. Public school choice and charter 
schools do.
  We agree on many things. Where we disagree, as on vouchers, I believe 
we can find common ground. I believe that we can come together, for 
example, to provide a ``safety valve'' to children in failing schools, 
in the way of broader public school choice and greater access to 
charter schools. I am therefore hopeful, about the prospects for 
bipartisan agreement and for meaningful reform. To that end, I urge my 
colleagues to support the Public Education Reinvestment, Reinvention, 
and Responsibility Act.

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