[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 56 (Tuesday, May 7, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3937-S3938]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          THE EDUCATION BUDGET

  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, I thank the Senator from Iowa for 
yielding the time. This is extremely important legislation. As one who 
from time to time manages floor legislation, I recognize that it is 
important to keep the focus and attention on the pending subject 
matter.
  But I want to take a moment of the Senate's time to talk about 
another issue which is important to the families in this country; that 
is, our education budget.
  I take this moment now because we have had a series of actions by the 
administration in recent days that brought new focus and attention on 
the issue of education funding.
  Money, in and of itself, is not going to answer the problems we are 
facing in this country on any public policy issues, and it will not in 
the area of education. But what we had last year was an education 
reform program that was worked on by Republicans and Democrats alike, 
the No Child Left Behind Act. Prior to passage of the new law, there 
was criticism of the federal education programs, that they were not 
resulting in the children developing academic skills and succeeding in 
our school systems across this country, and there was also a very 
fundamental understanding; and that is, while money alone will not 
solve the problem, reform alone will not solve the problem. If you 
bring reform together with resources, you are going to fulfill a recipe 
for progress for children in this country.
  The reforms, which we spelled out in the new law, are raise standards 
for students and teachers and hold schools and school districts 
accountable for results. It requires a great deal from the students, a 
great deal from the schools, a great deal from the parents, a great 
deal from the local communities, additional responsibilities by the 
States. We in Washington told them that we were going to be a partner 
in this endeavor to try to really make a difference in enhancing 
academic achievement.
  That was an endeavor on which many of us signed off. Many of us, who 
have been here for a period of time, have raised some serious questions 
about the seriousness with which our Republican friends are really 
committed to the areas of education and education reform. I remember, 
after we saw Republican leadership take over in the Senate, as a result 
of the elections of 1994, one of the first actions they undertook was a 
rescission of some $1.7 billion in education funding that had already 
been appropriated for some of the neediest children in this country. We 
fought that. We fought it and fought it, but they had some success in 
rescinding funding. It was the same year the Republican leadership 
announced they wanted to abolish the Department of Education.

  I think most of us in this body wanted the Department of Education, 
for one simple and fundamental reason; that is, every time the 
President brings a Cabinet together, we want to have someone at that 
table who is the clear, powerful voice for children and enhanced 
education and investing in the children of this country and their 
education. That is what the a Secretary of Education should do. But 
they wanted to abolish the Department of Education. They said we could 
have many other Departments, and money in other areas of public policy. 
But we resisted, and we saw that the Department was not abolished.
  Then, if you can believe, in 1995, in the Republican budget 
resolution that came over from the House, they tried to effectively 
eliminate over $18 billion in student loans support over a 7-year 
period. We were able to resist that, just as we resisted Republican 
efforts in 1981, when President Reagan initiated what they call an 
origination fee on student loans, an additional kind of payout. We were 
able to reduce that in a significant way. But students still pay too 
much up front to borrow money to go to college.
  This is the record over a very considerable period of time. Three 
years ago, we had the battle on the floor of the Senate on elementary 
education, and there was a move to eliminate and support for 800,000 
homeless children, 800,000 migrant children, 800,000 immigrant children 
who were going to be American citizens. The Republican leadership did 
not want any coverage for them.
  The American people have a certain hesitancy and a certain concern 
about the legitimacy of the other side's real interest in investing in 
education. The list of anti-education proposals from the other side 
continues to go on.
  Just ten days ago, we saw the proposal by one of the leading 
authorities in the administration, Budget Director Mitch Daniels, who 
suggested a new way to shortchange students pursuing their college 
education in this country, by effectively denying them the opportunity 
to go for the lowest-interest rates on student loans that long have 
been available to them. The Administration sought to require that 
students pay higher interest rates on their loans, rates which would 
mean, for the average student, more than $3,000 in additional expenses 
over the life of their loan. If that loan was $17,000, and repayment 
were stretched over 30 years, it would be an additional $10,000 in 
costs.
  That is a very clear indication of how the Administration views 
support for higher education for students in this country.
  Now, we find that the President is out traveling across the country 
talking about the importance of funding education, understanding that 
we need reform and that we also need resources.
  Just yesterday, this is what the President said in Michigan:

       The Federal Government has responsibilities. Generally, 
     that responsibility is to

[[Page S3938]]

     write a healthy check, and we did so in 2002--$22 billion for 
     secondary and elementary education. It's a 25 percent 
     increase. We've increased money by 35 percent for teacher 
     recruitment, teacher retention, and teacher pay.

  I wish that had been their proposal, but it was not. It was not. 
Their proposal was for a 3.5 percent increase, basically enough only to 
cover inflation despite the tremendous needs beyond inflation that our 
schools have. All of the difference between the 3.5 percent and what 
the President identified here was the result of Democratic leadership 
in the Senate and the Appropriations Committee to get that increase.
  Let's be fair. Let's be honest. Let's be candid in terms of it. That 
is the basic and bottom line. And all we have to do is say: Well, if 
this really was their proposal last year, what happened to it this 
year? This year, the administration proposes a 2.8 percent increase, 
again inflation only. Why on the one hand would you go out and tell 
people in Michigan that you provided $22 billion for elementary and 
secondary education, a 25 percent increase, and a 35 percent increase 
for teachers, recruitment for teachers for one year, and now come on 
back and propose a 2.8 percent increase.
  Who is fooling whom? It was 3.5 percent last year, and the Democrats 
raised it to the figures the President talked about, and this year it 
is 2.8 percent. That is what is in the budget. That is what is in the 
budget numbers.
  It gets worse. Look at what the administration's budget is for the 
future, according to the last budget conference report. It provides 
virtually zero new money for education for the next 8 years, all the 
way to 2011. They put forward funding to cover the cost of inflation, 
but not a nickel above it. There it is, as shown on the chart, for the 
next 8 years. For the next 8 years: a zero increase. We do not hear 
them talking about that. We do not hear the President or the Department 
of Education or anyone for the President denying this. It is because 
that happens to be it.
  What we are saying is that we believe--believe deeply--that when you 
have an over $2 trillion budget and you say education is your most 
important priority, outside of national security and the war on 
terrorism, we think you can do better on education than this. That is 
what the Democrats say. And that is what we want the American people 
want. An over $2 trillion budget, and they can't do anything better 
than a 2.8 percent increase. It doesn't even meet the challenges of 
inflation and growing school enrollment, never mind all our unmet 
school needs.
  So the schoolteachers who are out there now trying to upgrade their 
skills, as we have effectively required in last year's reform 
legislation, so that we can have a well-qualified teacher in every 
classroom, they are going to be denied the support. 18,000 fewer 
teachers who received training last year budget will go untrained next 
year under the administration's budget.
  Those children, whom we are asking to meet higher standards, who need 
that extra help and assistance in the after-school programs with 
tutorials, they are going to find the doors are going to be closed to 
them in the after-school programs. 33,000 children who received after-
school learning opportunities will be pushed out of programs next 
school year under the administration's budget.
  Why is it that at a time when the country has come together, and 
there has been a great hullabaloo about the signing of the No Child 
Left Behind Act--and I participated in it, and welcomed the 
opportunity, as others did in this body, to see that we were going to 
give national focus and attention on the issues of education--we are 
pulling the rug out from underneath this effort? Are we expecting that 
schools reform will be a success on a tin cup budget? It simply cannot 
be done. Every schoolteacher, every parent understands that. Every 
school board member, every principal, every superintendent understands 
it.

  If we are going to leave no child behind, we cannot accept the 
Administration's budget that provides services to just over a third of 
all the needy children eligible for Title I assistance. They leave 
almost 6 million children behind. The Administration wanted to title 
our bipartisan school reform bill the No Child Left Behind Act. The 
legislation laid out a glide path of funding so that we would provide 
supplemental services for every needy child. That is what that 
legislation stated. That is what the President signed. But you don't 
get there with this budget.
  What we are basically talking about here is whether we are going to 
get the qualified teachers in underserved areas, areas with the highest 
incidence of dropout rates among Hispanic Americans and the highest 
number of unqualified teachers. That does not mean those teachers who 
are working today under extremely challenging and difficult conditions 
don't want to be a part of this whole effort to upgrade skills. They 
want to be. Give them a chance. Give them a fighting chance.
  That is what last year's bill sought to do. It sought to give them a 
chance for certification. Give them a chance for training. Give them a 
chance for upgrading their skills. We have seen where it has been done. 
It has been done down in North Carolina. It is being done in a handful 
of other States. We believe the Nation ought to be about it. That is 
the policy that last year's bipartisan legislation committed us. That 
is what we are not living up to.
  I hope we can try to get back to what we committed ourselves to and 
what we are fighting for here today. We have the opportunity at this 
time to try to breathe new life into the pledge to leave no child 
behind. We still have the appropriations process to go through. We 
welcome a President who says: All right. We have looked through these 
figures. We know we are fighting a war on terrorism. We know we are 
funding homeland security. But by God, at the greatest times of 
American history, we have not only fought overseas but we have invested 
here at home. The place to start off that investment is going to be 
here in the area of education. We are going to support those past 
efforts, those bipartisan efforts and make sure that the legislation 
comes to life with an infusion of added and desperately needed 
resources.
  We are going to continue to make our presentation, continue to make 
this case day in and day out. We want to tell the parents in this 
country that when we were a part of voting for that legislation to 
enhance academic achievement and accomplishment, we said it was a 
national priority and we meant it.
  This administration's budget does not make education a national 
priority. So, we are going to fight for those families. We are going to 
fight here on the floor. We are going to fight during the 
appropriations process. We will take on the administration. But we are 
not going to leave the children of this country behind.

                          ____________________