[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 54 (Thursday, April 26, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3934-S3936]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               EDUCATION

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I rise to speak briefly this morning on an 
issue about which we have heard a lot in the last few days and in which 
a number of us have participated diligently over the last several 
months. The subject is education, kindergarten through 12th grade, a 
period of time which, as we all know, in large part determines how 
successful one is later in life--how well equipped one is to deal with 
challenges in an increasingly challenging world.
  This important issue has caused many of us to reflect over the last 
several years on what has been accomplished in the last 35 years with 
Federal intervention in education. What we have found, for the most 
part, is that in spite of major expenditures by the Federal 
government--a small fraction of what is spent across the country but a 
huge and growing investment, to the tune, in just one program, title I, 
of about $120 billion focused on disadvantaged children--the results 
have been disappointing.
  They have been disappointing to Republicans, Independents, and 
Democrats. They are disappointing because through careful study, 
through careful documentation, people have come to realize that we have 
not succeeded. By practically every single measurement, the results 
have been flat.
  Some people say that is a good result; we could have gotten worse.
  But there is no reason in a time of economic prosperity and 
increasing prominence of the United States in the world order--we are 
the superpower--for results to be flat when billions of dollars are 
being expended.
  When we peel away the layers and look at the results, we see growing 
achievement gaps between the served and underserved; between those 
financially well off and those less financially well off; between 
minority and non-minority. However one looks at the achievement gap 
over the last 35 years, it has deteriorated; it has gotten worse.
  The subject is complex. It is hard. It is not a matter of just more 
money, smaller class size, or better school buildings. Society has 
changed. The challenges before us have changed. Our responsibility is 
to look at the last 35 years and address what has not worked and, 
through debate, hearings, and discussions, come forth with a policy 
that will reverse the trend of an achievement level that is flat. No 
net results after an increase in attention and after an increase of 
dollars is not an acceptable outcome.
  From both sides of the aisle, we have heard over the last several 
days--and very appropriately so--applause for President Bush's first 
100 days. Education is his No. 1 policy priority. We have made 
significant progress on tax relief, spending, and a number of military 
and defense issues.
  Now we come back to what is most important to the United States of 
America--where we are today and where we want to be 5 years from now, 
10 years from now, 20 years from now in what is becoming a smaller and 
smaller world.
  The President's top priority is education. We have heard it from all 
sides; we have seen it in the newspapers and other media; and we have 
said it ourselves on the campaign trail. But the message really comes 
from the words of President George W. Bush, and that is ``to leave no 
child behind.'' When you say ``leave no child behind,'' you look at an 
individual and wonder how, in spite of 20, 50, 100, 150, 200 programs, 
all well intended, coming out of a Congress that says here is another 
good program to address a particular problem, we fall short. In spite 
of hundreds of different federal education programs, and in spite of 
$120 billion spent in a single program, title I, we continue to fail.

  Leaving no child behind means we probably have to change our 
targeting. Many of us believe we should channel increased resources to 
the child who is disadvantaged, to raise that child's performance. That 
has not been possible from a political standpoint.
  In leaving no child behind, the solution means we should focus on the 
child. We do not focus on bureaucracy. We focus on the child. We do not 
focus on more money for still another program. That has been tried 
again and again. It means we need to make sure the child, the 
individual, learns.
  Right now, we have testing and some general accountability measures. 
People argue passionately about national standards, State standards, 
and local standards. That needs to be debated. But for 35 years we 
never said of the child: we will follow you over time so we can 
determine whether you are failing, staying the same, or progressing 
and, based on that, determine the proper action for this body.
  We need to make sure kids learn. That will require increased 
accountability.
  How do we do that? The bill that will be put forward and marked up in 
the Health Education Committee, the BEST bill, is strong on 
accountability. Through the bipartisan working groups that have been 
very actively involved over the last 2 months, that accountability can 
be strengthened. We need to reward schools that are performing well. If 
schools are not doing well, we will have to give them the tools, the 
equipment, the resources, and the chance to do better. When they 
repeatedly fail, year after year after year and if a child is locked 
into such a school, at some point we have to reconstitute that school 
or give the parents the opportunity to take their child out of that 
failing environment that society has created and put them in an 
environment where they have a real chance to learn.
  Students in persistently failing schools should not be trapped there. 
They are trapped today. We need to do something about it. We have not 
been able to do anything about it in 30 or 35 years. The failure is in 
part because of Federal involvement. It is in part a failure of the 
current system. We need to change the system. That means make sure kids 
learn, with accountability. No. 2, give parents a choice. No. 3, let's 
proceed with reform.
  No longer can people sit back and say: here is the system of 760 
programs, let's pour more money into that system and we will be OK. We 
know that will not work. Therefore, we have to have reform. We have to 
have modernization of that system.
  The good news is Democrats and Republicans together and from a policy 
standpoint understand what modernization means today. It means 
flexibility, knowing what works and what doesn't work, taking what 
works and putting it on a pedestal and supporting it. Yes, that means 
financially. More money will be put in education. We heard the 
President of the United States say again and again and again over the 
last several days, especially as we are at the negotiating table, that 
he is willing to put more money than has been put into education last 
year or the year before that or the year before that. This President 
will invest in education if we agree to link it to reform, to 
modernization, to flexibility, to accountability, to having some 
element of parental involvement. Nobody cares more about that 
individual child than the parents.

  Global competition is one of the reasons we can stand up and say we 
are failing today in spite of our good intentions, in spite of teachers 
who are working hard, getting up each morning, teaching all day, 
preparing through the night and working summers to become even better 
teachers. In spite of their best efforts, we are failing. The National 
Assessment of Educational Progress, NAEP, is the only test using an 
accurate and careful statistical sampling from a cross-section study 
across the country of what happens at a certain point in time in 
various States and various school districts. It is also longitudinal, 
comparing what happens after 1 year to 3 years to 5 years to 10 years 
later.

[[Page S3935]]

  A recent NAEP study confirmed that our current education system is 
not working. The statistics, the data, are very accurate. As a 
scientist and someone who depends on statistics, I am convinced it is 
good data. The data show that the achievement gap is not closing, but 
continues to widen.
  I am hopeful we can address the issue of education now or next week 
in a way that links that policy to the debate we are talking about, 
which is how much more money it will take to succeed.
  The NAEP uses four levels of achievement. They are: advanced, 
proficient, basic, and below basic. You can track each of these. 
Looking at the below basic category is fascinating. Take one element, 
such as reading. In the below basic level, for the most part, too many 
students simply cannot read. Mr. President, 37 percent of those tested 
scored below basic. Even more disturbing is the fact that 63 percent--
almost two-thirds of black fourth graders, 58 percent of Hispanics, 47 
percent of students in urban areas, and 60 percent of poor children--
scored below basic. That means they cannot read.
  Secretary Paige--a wonderful leader--articulates through his 
experience what is happening on the ground: ``After spending $125 
billion of title I money over 25 years, we have virtually nothing to 
show for it.''
  The data also show how well we are performing internationally. Look 
at math and science. I have a junior in high school; so we are thinking 
about college. As a physician, math and science are two fields that 
mean a lot to me as we predict how well prepared people will be in this 
new economy fueled by technology and dissemination of information. In 
math and science, we are not first in the world. We are not fifth in 
the world. We are not tenth in the world. We are not fifteenth in the 
world. The United States of America is seventeenth in math and 
eighteenth in science.
  What does that say as we go out and compete in this global economy 
for jobs, for economic growth?
  We have a wonderful opportunity to go forward under the leadership of 
President George W. Bush. He has put on the table a very clear agenda 
that stresses accountability; an agenda that focuses on what works; an 
agenda that will reduce the redtape and bureaucracy that is handcuffing 
our teachers; and an agenda that will increase flexibility and local 
control. It is an agenda where needs can be identified locally and an 
agenda that empowers parents.
  I very much appreciate the opportunity to participate in this 
discussion. I am hopeful we will be able to turn to the bill next week. 
It means at the end of 2 weeks from now we can have a bill that will 
engage in a major modernization of education, where we truly can say 
that the United States of America has stepped up to that big challenge, 
that challenge of leaving no child behind.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will please call the 
roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the 
quorum call be dispensed with and that I be yielded 10 minutes or until 
a Senator arrives, at which time I will yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I rise once again to continue remarks from 
a few minutes ago on education, and I will do so until another Senator 
arrives to speak. I want to take a moment to bring my colleagues up to 
date on the underlying bill that came out of the Committee on Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions. It is a bill called BEST--I mentioned 
it earlier--the Better Education for Students and Teachers Act. It is a 
bill we debated in the Committee and most probably will be the bill 
that is brought forward once we make further progress in discussions on 
the appropriate amount of money to invest.
  This particular bill, which will be modified and debated and 
discussed on the floor, has four principles about which I want to 
briefly comment. What it does, is to embody what President Bush has 
focused on and that is this very important belief, fundamental belief, 
that enterprise works best when authority and responsibility are 
aligned. Good results occur when responsibilities are accompanied by 
latitude and flexibility so that judgments can be made on information 
that is available and when those who are responsible for teaching, for 
making decisions for education, for leaving no child behind, are held 
accountable. Those principles are very simple. They link innovation 
responsibility, flexibility, and results.
  The BEST bill has four components to it. No. 1, it will increase 
accountability for student performance. It is just remarkable, I 
believe, and it is important for our colleagues to understand and 
people around the country to understand, that we as a government are 
investing taxpayer money without demanding accountability--no 
measurement, no results, are required. We are pouring money into a 
system and we don't know if it works. As I mentioned earlier the data 
that has come out this morning shows the current system does not work.
  First and foremost, accountability: States and school districts and 
schools that improve achievement that eliminate or narrow that 
achievement gap which we know is getting worse those entities, will be 
praised, will be rewarded in the underlying bill.
  The flip side of that is those schools and those districts and even 
those States that continue to fail after they receive new resources and 
a fair clause to show progress--they will then be sanctioned. They will 
be held accountable. That is something basic. It is something we do in 
our homes. It is something we do in our small businesses. We do it in 
our everyday lives. But when it comes to government, for some reason 
for the last 35 years we have not done it. Now is the time to do it. 
And we are going to do it.
  The parents will have new information on how their children are 
progressing. They will no longer be limited to just assessing at night 
and talking to their child, or talking to other parents at night. That 
will continue, of course, but parents will know much more about whether 
the schools are succeeding. For the first time, assessments can be 
compared across communities and States, and across the U.S. and even to 
other countries. Parents will know that their schools are being held 
accountable as well.
  Parental involvement is crucial, we can do a lot here in Washington, 
DC, in this great Capital and this great body, but ultimately it has to 
be the millions of parents who are out there holding accountable the 
schools, the teachers, the school districts, and the local governments.
  There are going to be annual State reading and math assessments for 
grades three through eight. That is something I feel very strongly 
about.
  Two, the BEST bill focuses on what works. Federal dollars will be 
spent on effective research-based programs and practices. Funds will be 
targeted to improve schools and enhance teacher quality.
  That ultimate goal has to be to have a student and a classroom that 
is safe and drug free, but with a good teacher at the head. Therefore, 
the ``t'' in the BEST bill means teachers. And the focus will be on 
teachers.
  Third, the BEST bill will also reduce bureaucracy and increase 
flexibility. Additional flexibility will be provided to States and 
school districts, and flexible funding will be increased at the local 
level.
  Finally, this bill will empower parents. Parents don't now have the 
information to be able to either hold schools accountable or make 
decisions. They will be given that information about the quality of 
their child's progress and their child's school. Students in 
persistently low-performing schools will be provided options so that 
they are not locked in a bad school.
  It is important as we go forward to understand what the underlying 
bill is. It is a sweeping introduction of the four principles: 
accountability, focusing on what works, reducing bureaucracy and 
increasing flexibility, and empowering parents.
  I look forward to discussing that in greater detail as we, hopefully, 
get to this bill next week. I think the BEST bill is a great start for 
what we all want, and that is to leave no child behind.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Connecticut is 
recognized.

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