[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 105 (Wednesday, September 8, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H6879]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS NOT RECEIVING FEDERAL FUNDING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. King of Iowa). Under a previous order of 
the House, the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Pearce) is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Mr. PEARCE. Mr. Speaker, one of the constant comments and questions 
that I have had regarding our education policy on the Federal level is 
that local teachers have constantly said, we think that the No Child 
Left Behind provisions are underfunded; we think that it is an unfunded 
mandate. Our office has continually researched the problem, and we 
recognize that in the last 10 years, Federal funding has increased from 
$23 billion to $56 billion, a 132 percent increase. So, Mr. Speaker, 
the numbers never quite matched the explanations that were coming from 
our teachers in the district. Knowing that the teachers were, to their 
best knowledge, presenting the facts as they were told them, we began 
to dig even deeper.
  In July, it began to come to our attention that many times the funds 
that we have allocated on the Federal level have not been made 
available from the States to their local school districts. I am not 
sure exactly why that has occurred, but it still is a fact that, for 
instance, in New Mexico, we have $78 million in unspent Federal funds. 
The situation is even so bad that $16.7 million has been allocated so 
long that now it is going to revert to the Federal Government on 
September 30.
  So as I spent my time at home during the summer recess the last week 
of July and the 4 weeks of August, I began to talk to the teachers and 
the principals and explain to them that much of the money, much of the 
$78 million that is there and is available is actually in title I 
funding that is for the low-income programs. And then also, there is 
money for the Reading First programs. New Mexico needs both of those 
kinds of fundings in the extreme. The teachers and principals were 
somewhat shocked to find out that as they were telling me there was no 
funding for No Child Left Behind, that actually there were unspent 
funds, and then we began to understand that possibly the facts that 
were given to the teachers and to the principals were not the same as 
existed in reality.
  In July, I had the opportunity to meet with three principals from my 
district who were here in Washington for a national conference. I began 
to bring my concerns to the attention of these three principals and 
gave them the facts about the unspent money in New Mexico. One of the 
principals took it on himself to share those facts with the leadership 
of this conference, with that national conference, and with the other 
principals in attendance in the meeting. Upon hearing the information, 
to their credit, the national leaders at the conference began to do 
their own research, and they found that almost every State has the same 
problem, that money has been allocated, but the State departments of 
education are not either making people aware of it, or maybe there are 
just no requirements for these monies; and no one is making application 
for the grants that could improve the education to our students in 
America. They have been funded already; and yet, sadly, the money is 
not being allocated.
  The situation was so extreme that one State, on September 30, is 
losing $16.7 million because the time has elapsed in which it is 
possible for the State to make application. One State has the extreme 
circumstance of turning back on September 30 $90 million. And across 
the Nation, teachers are being told that No Child Left Behind is not 
funded, that it is an unfunded mandate. But, Mr. Speaker, the facts are 
exactly opposite, that the funds are there and they are available; it 
is just that the local schools and the principals are not made aware of 
it.
  This national association felt so compelled that they stopped their 
intent. Their intent was to have a national education advertising 
program criticizing the unfunded mandate of No Child Left Behind; and 
this national organization decided, based on the facts that were 
provided by my staffer to them, that, in fact, they were not going to 
run this national ad, and they could no longer contend No Child Left 
Behind as an unfunded mandate.

                              {time}  2100

  Just some of the figures so that my colleagues would understand, Mr. 
Speaker, total dollars unspent on the Federal level, $13.4 billion. 
Under education for the disadvantaged, $5.2 billion is unspent. Special 
education, $3.9 billion is unspent. School improvement programs, $3.38 
billion is unspent. English language acquisition, $231 million is 
unspent. Vocational adult education, $701 million is unspent, and yet 
the teachers unions nationwide are castigating anyone who supports No 
Child Left Behind for supporting an unfunded mandate, and I would 
respectfully make the observation that their facts appear to be in 
error.
  Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to bring these facts to my colleagues' 
attention and possibly to the attention of other legislators.

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