[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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