[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 58 (Wednesday, May 2, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4156-S4158]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  BETTER EDUCATION FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED--
                               Continued

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I want to talk about the education 
bill that is so important to all of us. We are hopefully very close to 
agreement on bringing the bill before the Senate.
  We are all a little frustrated because we have been waiting for the 
bill for about 10 days. There have been a lot of negotiations.
  There are some very key issues that need to be discussed, and I hope 
they will be discussed in the open. I hope they will not be negotiated 
away. Reform is the key to success in education.
  We are going to spend more money on education. In fact, President 
Bush has put forward a budget that provides an 11.4-percent increase in 
spending in education. That is warranted because we do need to add 
emphasis to certain areas of public education.
  What is going to determine success or failure is whether we reform 
our system, whether we make it accountable, whether we give parents the 
ability to know what their children are doing and how they are doing. 
If a child comes home with A's or B's and is promoted to the next 
grade, and you, as a parent, find out 5 years later the child did not 
read at grade level, that is a failure in the system.
  If a parent does not have the tools to find out if there is a 
weakness in the child's education, the parent is at a significant 
disadvantage, and the child is doomed forever.
  We need to make sure parents have the knowledge of how a school is 
doing. A lot of people say we should not have tests. If we do not have 
tests, how will we have a benchmark? How will we know where the 
weaknesses are?
  If we have tests, even if the test is not perfect, it will show a red 
flag and we will see the weakness. We can determine if the test is not 
right, if the failure is not real. At least we will check on it to make 
sure, but most of the time the failure is real.
  If we catch the failure at third grade instead of eighth grade, we 
will save that child's future. We will save that child's productive 
life because we can make sure that every child can read at grade level 
in the third grade. If we do that, then every child will have the 
chance to absorb the rest of his or her

[[Page S4157]]

educational experience. But that child will never be able to absorb the 
history, the geography, the math, and the science if that child cannot 
read at grade level in the third grade and have the chance to progress.
  That is why we are trying to set a standard, not a mandate to every 
State about the test that is given but a mandate that there be some 
kind of accountability, some kind of test so parents know where the 
weaknesses are.
  In addition, we want to take the schools that are doing well in the 
same socioeconomic area and give that information about what works to 
the school that is not doing well. That is the purpose of 
accountability: to find out what does work so we will have a chance to 
help those that are not performing up to speed by showing them what has 
worked in schools with the same weakness areas.
  If it is reading that is a weakness, or math, or computer sciences, 
we will have some examples to show what does work because we do want to 
make sure no child is left behind.
  We are talking about reforms that include accountability, some kind 
of testing to see where they are and where the weaknesses are. We are 
talking about creativity to make sure schools that have teacher 
shortages have a bigger pool from which to choose. If we do not have a 
teacher who can teach French and the students are not able to learn 
French in that school district, why not go the extra mile to certify a 
person who majored in French in college but does not happen to have a 
teacher's certificate? Why not expedite the teacher certification so 
the young people in that particular school district will be able to 
learn French?

  That is what we are trying to do: give creativity incentives so there 
will be more teachers available to teach French, Russian, Japanese, or 
the Chinese language; more teachers who can teach math, science, and 
computer skills where there are teacher shortages.
  We must be creative. We must leave no stone unturned to make sure 
every child will get the chance to succeed with a public education.
  We are going to increase spending. We are going to triple the funding 
for children's reading programs to over $1 billion next year. We will 
have a 30-percent increase in funding for Hispanic-serving institutions 
and historically black colleges because these programs, which have been 
increased for the last few years at a very large rate, are doing a 
great service for our country. They are nurturing students in those 
schools to keep them in school to get those degrees to be eligible for 
the good jobs that a college education can give them.
  We are adding an additional $1 billion for Pell grants next year. At 
colleges and universities where I have made commencement addresses, I 
have had so many students tell me it is Pell grants that are 
responsible for their ability to get an education because their parents 
never could have afforded to send them. The Pell grants are an added 
incentive for them to go to college. In fact, one of the creative parts 
of this bill is increasing Pell grants by $1,000 to any low-income 
student who will enter the math or science field in college.
  That would be an exciting opportunity for our minority students, for 
our low-income students, for students who have not had a chance to have 
that extra Pell grant. If that extra Pell grant will give them an 
incentive to go into the field of math and science, then that student 
is going to have a bright future.
  We are going to increase by $412 million teacher professional 
development, making sure teachers have the tools they need to teach, 
that the best techniques are given to the teachers teaching our young 
people.
  We are going to have a $90 million increase in the National Science 
Foundation, the math and science partnerships program, so we can assure 
quality opportunities in math and science to nurture our potential 
inventors.
  There is a $40 million increase in school construction funding for 
impact aid schools. An impact aid school is a school that is near a 
military base. These are school districts that do not have the same tax 
base because a military installation does not pay local taxes. Many of 
these schools have been starved over the years. We are going to give 
them a boost to try to upgrade the school construction in these heavily 
impacted school districts where there are large Federal institutions.
  There is a lot of increased spending in this bill. But that is not 
all this bill is. If we just increase spending, we don't need to debate 
the issues of reform; we don't need to talk about accountability; we 
don't need to talk about vouchers or choice for parents or charter 
schools or trying to get more teachers to take up the teaching 
profession. Why would we do that if we just throw money at it and not 
do anything more? We could just pass an appropriations bill. That is 
what we have been doing. That is what hasn't worked.
  What we are hoping to do is to now reform the system. We want to give 
individual attention to every child. We are trying to give the Federal 
money in block grants to the State and local governments with 
benchmarks--not mandates, not heavy books of regulations they have to 
thumb through before they can take a step. That is not what we are 
trying to do.
  We are saying: Here is the standard we want you to meet. We want 
every child to read at grade level at the third grade. How you do it is 
your choice. We will give you extra money for teaching teachers how to 
teach reading for Pell grants, for the added emphasis on math and 
science classes, all of those things that would go toward making sure 
each individual student has the opportunity to reach his or her full 
potential with a public education. That is the point of this bill.
  Increased accountability. Focus on what works. Look at the other 
schools to see what they do that works. Talk to people who have made it 
work.
  I visited a school in my hometown of Dallas, TX, an elementary 
school. I have never seen so much creativity. The students have parents 
who are interested. The PTA is very active in the school. The principal 
welcomes the PTA. Stonewall Jackson Elementary School has a diverse 
student body. They are excited about learning. The teachers are pumped 
up; the principal is open and creative; the parents love working for 
the school. It works because everyone comes together to try to make 
sure every child has the most opportunity that child can have.
  This particular school also has a number of deaf students. They are 
integrated into the elementary school. Deaf students and hearing 
students are in the same classes, so the hearing students know how to 
function with the deaf students; the deaf students know how to function 
with the hearing students. It is wonderful to see it work because of 
the interest of the parents, the teachers, the principal, the school 
superintendent, and school trustees. It is a teamwork effort. That is 
what we are trying to foster in every school in our country.

  We want to reduce bureaucracy in Washington and increase flexibility. 
We want school districts to do what fits them best. Maybe they need a 
single-sex school in part of an urban area where they have problems 
with discipline. Why shouldn't they be able to offer an all-boys school 
or an all-girls school in a public school environment, if that is what 
the parents believe will focus their children on education. Why don't 
we open our horizons and look at what we can do to be more creative?
  Most of all, we are trying to empower parents. We are trying to give 
parents the information they need to make the best decisions for their 
children. We are trying to make sure parents will be able to get their 
children out of a bad environment and into an environment where their 
child can learn and progress and do better. That is exactly what this 
bill is trying to do.
  I am very pleased we have a President whose major priority is 
education. I am very pleased we have a bill that will put some 
creativity into the schools. I am very pleased we will have some 
amendments that I hope will add to the creativity and the choices 
parents will have. The bottom line is, if parents know what their 
children are learning and if they have an interest in their schools, 
they are not going to let their children stay in a bad environment; 
they are not going to let their children stay in an environment that is 
not serving the needs of their children.
  I hope we can start the amendment process on this bill because I 
think we

[[Page S4158]]

have a chance to recreate public education in our country. It needs to 
be recreated. It has fallen down in the last 25 years. It is time we 
brought it back up. It is time we do not take no for an answer. It is 
time we do not allow someone to say that some children just can't 
learn. Every child can learn. We just must make sure we fit that 
child's individual needs and every child will learn. The key is 
catching the child early enough that we can give the child the full 
chance to have a quality public education. If we find out in the ninth 
grade that the child is reading at the third grade level, 6 years will 
have been lost for that child's development. That is not fair. We can 
do better. That is what I hope we will do.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I would like to continue under the time on 
education, please.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is recognized.
  Mr. THOMAS. I suppose we are all hopeful the committee will soon come 
together with their proposal and have some agreement on the bill and 
bring it here.
  As we think more and more about the education bill, and we begin to 
think what are the elements of a successful education for young people, 
of course we immediately begin to think, first of all, about families, 
about parents. That is the early responsibility. It is so interesting 
to watch in our communities, as we see the youngsters with parents who, 
when the children are very small, begin to help with reading, begin to 
give parental support. Then as they get to school, we can see their 
opportunities are much greater.
  The other things, of course, that we talk about are the facilities, 
the teaching opportunities that are provided by the community. We begin 
to try to put all these things together. Then we begin to say what is 
the role of dollars? I think the average expenditure per child is maybe 
$500. There are substantial differences in the costs of education 
throughout the country. Then we begin to measure reading performance 
against the amount of dollars that are spent. We see as dollars go up, 
reading capacity does not necessarily go up. So we say what is it that 
has to be done besides dollars?
  We begin to think of the role of the Federal Government versus the 
role of the school board and the State, in terms of decisions about 
school buildings, for example. Traditionally, the building of school 
facilities has been a responsibility of local governments. Local 
governments make the decisions. Then we find ourselves looking at 
things that need to be done in that area and we see we need Federal 
money. When Federal money comes, along with it comes regulation. People 
say: Wait a minute, get the Federal Government out of our lives.
  It is not an easy issue. Do we want to have the best education we 
can? Of course, nobody argues with that. That is our goal and it should 
be. We start with preschool and go on to have the best kind of 
education we possibly can have for everyone. Not only is that good for 
everyone, the people themselves, but it is good for our society. We 
cannot really have successful democracy unless we have educated 
citizens.
  That is what we are talking about. It sounds easy: we are going to 
support schools, we are going to do this, we are going to do that. Then 
we think it out and say: How do we best do this? How do we get 
accountability? Where should the money come from? How important is it 
as compared to teaching expertise, for example? What does that have to 
do with buildings, facilities, and these things?
  It is an interesting topic. I hope we will get to it soon. The bill 
before us will cover almost all these things. It will have to do with 
accountability. It will have to do with financial capacity. It will 
have to do with choice. It will have to do with how the money is spent 
and who decides that. I look forward to that.
  I think the arrangements have been for the Senator from West Virginia 
to begin now, so I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Brownback). The Senator from West 
Virginia.

                          ____________________