[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 9, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5866-S5869]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-79. A resolution adopted by the Senate of the State of 
     Pennsylvania urging Congress to provide equitable funding to 
     the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the 
     operation of quality affordable housing; to the Committee on 
     Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

                        Senate Resolution No. 45

       Whereas, Pennsylvania's public housing authorities are 
     essential in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and
       Whereas, Pennsylvania is home to 90 public housing 
     authorities serving an estimated 245,819 residents of the 
     Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and

[[Page S5867]]

       Whereas, Pennsylvania's public housing authorities provide 
     high-quality affordable housing to residents in the 
     Commonwealth of Pennsylvania through the use of Fedeal 
     programs; and
       Whereas, Pennsylvania's public housing authorities have 
     successfully assisted residents of the Commonwealth of 
     Pennsylvania with Moving to Work programs and 
     preapprenticeship training, resulting in greater self-
     sufficiency and a reduced burden on Commonwealth resources; 
     and
       Whereas, developments built by Pennsylvania's public 
     housing authorities have in some instances increased the 
     values of neighboring properties and communities in the 
     Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by as much as 142%; and
       Whereas, new funding guidelines developed by the United 
     States Department of Housing and Urban Development may result 
     in reduced funding for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, its 
     public housing authorities and the Pennsylvanians who rely on 
     these services; and
       Whereas, Pennsylvania's public housing authorities are a 
     major employer in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and 
     funding cuts from the United States Department of Housing and 
     Urban Development may result in drastic layoffs and 
     diminished services to the residents of public housing; 
     therefore be it
       Resolved, That the Senate of the Commonwealth of 
     Pennsylvania recognize the importance of the quality 
     services, support and housing provided by Pennsylvania's 
     public housing authorities and respectfully urge the Congress 
     to provide equitable funding to the United States Department 
     of Housing and Urban Development for the operation of quality 
     affordable housing; and be it further
       Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to 
     the presiding officers of each house of Congress and to each 
     member of Congress from Pennsylvania.
                                  ____

       POM-80. A resolution adopted by the Senate of the State of 
     Michigan urging Congress to enact legislation to increase 
     protections for the Great Lakes from Asian carp; to the 
     Committee on Environment and Public Works.

                        Senate Resolution No. 15

       Whereas, two species of Asian carp, not native to the 
     United States, are on the verge of invading the Great Lakes. 
     Silver carp and bighead carp escaped from confinement at 
     southern fish farms in past decades and have migrated up the 
     Mississippi and the Illinois River to within less than 100 
     miles of the Great Lakes; and
       Whereas, Asian carp could become a dominant species in the 
     Great Lakes, threatening the $4.5 billion Great Lakes 
     commercial and recreational fishery and recreational boaters. 
     Asian carp are voracious feeders that compete with native 
     fish and wildlife for food. In addition, silver carp can 
     weigh up to 70 pounds and jump up to 10 feet out of the water 
     when disturbed by boats. Boaters have suffered cuts, 
     blackened eyes, broken bones, back injuries, and concussions 
     from leaping silver carp; and
       Whereas, the only thing preventing the movement of Asian 
     carp into the Great Lakes is a temporary electrical barrier 
     in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal operated by the United 
     States Army Corps of Engineers. A permanent electrical 
     barrier is also under construction to replace the temporary 
     barrier; and
       Whereas, to date, over $12 million has been spent on 
     construction and operation of the electrical barriers. To 
     help match federal funding, the state of Michigan has 
     contributed nearly $70,000 toward the completion of the 
     permanent electrical barrier; and
       Whereas, current funding is insufficient to complete 
     construction of the permanent barrier and only finances 
     operation of the temporary barrier through the first half of 
     fiscal year 2007. In addition, there is no funding to 
     renovate the temporary barrier as a permanent backup to the 
     new barrier; and
       Whereas, there are provisions in several measures before 
     the Congress that would provide funds to upgrade the current 
     barrier and complete construction of the permanent barrier. 
     Bills with this language include the Great Lakes Asian Carp 
     Barrier Act (H.R. 553 and S. 336), the Water Resources 
     Development Act of 2007 (H.R. 1495), the National Aquatic 
     Invasive Species Act of 2007 (S. 725), and the Great Lakes 
     Collaboration Implementation Act (H.R. 1350). It is of the 
     utmost importance that Congress protect the Great Lakes by 
     providing the funding and authority for the ongoing operation 
     and maintenance of the barriers, compensate states for their 
     contributions to the project, and provide for research into 
     controlling Asian carp and other exotic species; now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate, That we memorialize the United 
     States Congress to enact legislation to increase protections 
     for the Great Lakes from Asian carp; and be it further
       Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to 
     the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the 
     United States House of Representatives, and the members of 
     the Michigan congressional delegation.
                                  ____

       POM-81. A resolution adopted by the Senate of the State of 
     Hawaii urging Congress to propose amendments to the No Child 
     Left Behind Act of 2001; to the Committee on Health, 
     Education, Labor, and Pensions.

                        Senate Resolution No. 33

       Whereas, the United States Congress must decide in 2007 
     whether to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 
     or let it die and replace it with a new law; and
       Whereas, the No Child Left Behind Act, unprecedented in the 
     history of federal and state roles in public education by the 
     mandated imposition of a federally prescribed, single 
     accountability model for all public schools, undermines the 
     established constitutional role of state and local public 
     education governance; and
       Whereas, the No Child Left Behind Act, while purporting to 
     create an accountability system for public schools, has in 
     reality, been an enormous financial and programmatic burden 
     on schools and taxpayers; and
       Whereas, even if states and schools are satisfied with 
     their educational programs and outcomes, they are forced to 
     participate in this top-down system in order to continue to 
     receive federal funds for education, such as Title I funds; 
     and
       Whereas, the No Child Left Behind Act mandates consequences 
     to schools if just one of thirty seven possible adequate 
     yearly progress calculation outcomes are not met, and makes 
     no distinction in the consequences imposed on schools that 
     did not meet one or did not meet all thirty seven, resulting 
     in dilution of energy, time, and money by mandating the 
     treatment of all such schools to include identical sanctions; 
     and
       Whereas, the No Child Left Behind Act employs a view of 
     motivation that is misguided and objectionable, using 
     threats, punishments, and pernicious comparisons to 
     ``motivate'' teachers, students, and schools; and
       Whereas, private K-12 schools have chosen not to spend 
     their time or money adopting key elements of the No Child 
     Left Behind Act's intensive testing and accountability 
     regimen; and
       Whereas, the No Child Left Behind Act's narrow focus on the 
     ``basics'' has discouraged the implementation of best 
     practices and cutting edge educational research in order to 
     achieve higher test scores; and
       Whereas, the No Child Left Behind Act has driven many 
     schools and school systems into a narrowing of curriculum, 
     often focused on only tested subjects, to the detriment of 
     subjects and rich educational experiences, such as the arts; 
     and
       Whereas, the goal of achieving one hundred percent 
     proficiency, including special education students, is 
     unrealistic, and the pursuit of which channels millions of 
     dollars into tactically targeted programs that divert limited 
     resources from other critical school programs, professional 
     training, as well as the educational and physical environment 
     of schools; and
       Whereas, the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act 
     penalize schools who enroll students who have inherent 
     educational deficiencies and who, as a group, will continue 
     to remain below ever increasing No Child Left Behind ``annual 
     measurable objectives''; and
       Whereas, while there has recently been some interest in the 
     development of so-called ``growth models'' to recognize the 
     contributions of a school to individual students over time, 
     the lack of adequate funding and the prohibition against 
     states developing their own growth models has rendered this 
     initiative almost meaningless; and
       Whereas, the No Child Left Behind Act does not provide 
     additional funds for teacher education or training if a 
     school is in ``status'' or under restructuring, which creates 
     a punitive environment with little commitment on the part of 
     the federal government for improving teaching and learning, 
     or for supporting increased school success; and
       Whereas, Adequate Yearly Progress does not take into 
     account a school's adoption of meaningful educational 
     innovation or judicious use of research; and
       Whereas, the No Child Left Behind Act has channeled 
     countless dollars into high-stake testing, which has largely 
     benefited national private testing companies, but at the 
     expense of ignoring genuine student accomplishments; and
       Whereas, the No Child Left Behind Act appears biased 
     towards a one size fits all multiple choice testing system, 
     and tends to ignore other means of engaging and assessing 
     students such as project-based, hands-on, or problem-solving 
     demonstrations of competency; and
       Whereas, the United States Department of Education has 
     shown little or no interest in creating incentives among 
     colleges and universities to incorporate innovative 
     portfolios or project-based competencies into their 
     admissions decisions, thus reinforcing the use of high-stake, 
     multiple-choice private contractors; now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of 
     the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2007, That the United 
     States Congress is strongly urged to propose specific 
     amendments to, or recommend the repeal of, the federal No 
     Child Left Behind Act of 2001; and be it further
       Resolved, that among the issues and amendments the United 
     States Congress should address are the following:
       (1) Improving teacher quality, preparation, and training 
     by:
       (A) Building support for a comprehensive incentive program 
     to recruit, place, and retain experienced, well-qualified 
     teachers in high-need schools (e.g., high poverty, or 
     geographically isolated communities);
       (B) Providing significant support for teacher education, 
     professional development, in-service training, and career 
     opportunities;

[[Page S5868]]

       (C) Improving the occupational status and compensation of 
     teaching as a career;
       (D) Improving qualifications of teacher candidates at 
     colleges of education;
       (E) Providing financial incentives for institutions of 
     higher learning to incorporate portfolios and demonstrations 
     of competency into their admissions decisions;
       (F) Strengthening teacher education preparation programs in 
     areas such as science, mathematics, technology, measurement, 
     data analysis, and evaluation;
       (G) Recognizing teachers having achieved certification by 
     the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards as 
     ``highly qualified'' in their respective fields; and
       (H) Providing flexibility in recognizing certified 
     secondary level special education teachers as qualified 
     teachers in their own right, and removing the unrealistic 
     expectation that such teachers be additionally certified in 
     every single core subject area;
       (2) Improving assessment measures and systems by:
       (A) Refining student assessment instruments designed 
     specifically for use in improving instruction as well as 
     school accountability;
       (B) Encouraging states and school districts to utilize a 
     wider range of useful assessments, including project-based 
     competency and portfolios;
       (C) Developing more appropriate means of assessing the 
     academic progress of English Language Learners, special 
     education students, and those with behavioral health issues; 
     and
       (D) Supporting the development and implementation of 
     comprehensive statewide data collection and exchange systems 
     that allow for more efficient support for student record 
     keeping and informed educational policy decision making 
     (e.g., electronic student transcript systems, and 
     longitudinal analyses of growth in academic achievement);
       (3) Improving accountability models, indicators of 
     performance, and consequences by:
       (A) Supporting states and the educational research 
     community in research and development efforts to further the 
     pioneering work required in refining the technology 
     underlying growth (toward standards) analysis models;
       (B) Permitting each state to adopt and pilot its own growth 
     model to calculate adequate yearly progress under the No 
     Child Left Behind Act to take advantage of inherent benefits 
     that motivate students at all levels of proficiency;
       (C) Supporting wholesale changes to the ``adequate yearly 
     progress'' model for educational accountability that would 
     prov1de for a fairer and more balanced appraisal of school 
     performance and quality;
       (D) Replacing punitive, conjunctive ``miss one, miss all'' 
     criteria;
       (E) Expanding accountability indicators to reflect 
     performance on standards in other important disciplines and 
     countering unintended consequences such as a narrowing of 
     curriculum;
       (F) Allowing for current limitations in reliable and valid 
     assessments of students within a wide range of disability 
     classifications; and
       (G) Allowing for deferrals to test new immigrant students 
     with limited English proficiency for up to three years of 
     entering the country;
       (4) Augmenting resources to assist states in efforts to 
     accomplish challenging educational initiatives by:
       (A) Requiring schools to maintain a broad and comprehensive 
     curriculum to support adopted content and performance 
     standards, including the arts and physical education;
       (B) Fully funding special education programs, as once 
     promised;
       (C) Providing adequate funding to research and develop 
     multiple and more valid means of assessing student 
     competence, skills and knowledge for use in both improvement 
     and educational accountability; and
       (D) Providing funding and training support for data and 
     technology infrastructure requirements;
       (5) Supporting innovation, capacity building, and 
     flexibility to address state and local education needs by:
       (A) Recognizing schools that demonstrate successful 
     strategies using innovative curriculum and methodologies;
       (B) Developing new initiatives for school facilities that 
     do not push educational funding toward ever larger schools 
     and economy-of-scale construction mentality;
       (C) Avoiding simplistic ``one size fits all'' solutions for 
     assessment, accountability, and intervention;
       (D) Addressing unique needs of ``high-need'' schools (e.g., 
     high poverty, high immigration, extreme geographic 
     isolation); and
       (E) Allowing states to determine which and how many grade 
     levels are best to test; and
       (6) Returning to the original intent and purpose of the 
     Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) by:
       (A) Restoring the foundational precepts of ESEA and its 
     focus on equity in educational attainment despite 
     disadvantages stemming from socio-economic background;
       (B) Allowing states to ``opt out'' of requirements that 
     impact schools that do not receive ESEA entitlements, without 
     loss of federal funds;
       (C) Promoting strategies that directly reduce achievement 
     gaps through better instruction, such as incentives for 
     experienced, well-qualified teachers to accept positions in 
     high-need schools and for reducing class size;
       (D) Resolving to build the best public education system and 
     teacher work force in the world, rather than promoting lofty 
     rhetoric and ploys that undermine and divert public funds to 
     private schools; and
       (E) Returning policy setting and curriculum and teaching 
     decision making control back to states, school districts and 
     local communities; and be it further
       Resolved, That certified copies of this Resolution be 
     transmitted to the President of the United States, the Vice 
     President of the United States, the President pro tempore of 
     the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States 
     House of Representatives, and the members of Hawaii's 
     Congressional delegation.
                                  ____

       POM-82. A joint resolution adopted by the Legislature of 
     the State of Washington urging Congress to raise the 
     authorized funding levels of the No Child Left Behind Act to 
     cover the costs that states and districts will incur to carry 
     out its recommendations; to the Committee on Health, 
     Education, Labor, and Pensions.

                 Substitute Senate Joint Memorial 8011

       Whereas, Washington State supports, believes in, and has 
     been diligently working on the attainment of the goals of the 
     No Child Left Behind legislation, all students achieving at 
     high levels; and
       Whereas, the state welcomes the additional support No Child 
     Left Behind has brought to focus on quality education, the 
     improvements needed to reach all children, and the urgency 
     nationwide to close achievement gaps; and
       Whereas, the state supports a fair, feasible, and 
     creditable accountability system; and;
       Whereas, Washington State has attached approval and is in 
     compliance with the requirements provided in the regulations; 
     and
       Whereas, the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind 
     legislation will provide the opportunity for essential 
     changes to be made to reach the goals and purposes of the 
     law; and
       Whereras, students with limited English proficiency are in 
     a program because they cannot speak, read, or write English 
     and they must be provided appropriate and valid measures for 
     accountability that are not included in the overall 
     accountability until such students develop English academic 
     language proficiency, for a period of not more than three 
     years; and
       Whereas, students with disabilities need appropriate 
     assessments that meet the requirements of the Individuals 
     with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), are aligned with 
     their individual educational plans, and tested according to 
     students' ability and not limited to their grade level; and
       Whereas, all students, all schools, and all districts do 
     not improve on a uniform basis across any state as required 
     by the state uniform bar, so the state uniform bar should be 
     replaced with realistic requirements for continuous growth 
     and improvement based on required yearly percentage increases 
     in performance at the school, district, and state levels, 
     which would provide fairness to accountability and an 
     increased motivation for very low and very high performing 
     schools; and
       Whereas, the Act imposes a significant testing burden on 
     states, schools, and districts and unless appropriate federal 
     funding is provided for administering and scoring quality 
     large scale assessments in the new grade levels required, 
     states should be allowed to continue to assess students 
     annually in selected grades in elementary schools, middle 
     schools, and high schools and even if funding is provided for 
     these assessments in the new grade levels, states should be 
     able to use that funding to assess students in a variety of 
     ways that would inform improvements in instruction but would 
     not have to meet the extensive technical standards now 
     required; and
       Whereas, the adequate yearly progress provisions are overly 
     prescriptive and rigid, and they identify too many schools 
     ``in need of improvement'' by creating too many ways to fail, 
     which reduces the opportunities and funding to assist schools 
     that truly are in need of improvement; and
       Whereas, the Act requires all teachers to be highly 
     qualified regardless of state systems of certification and 
     licensure in place, states must continue to have authority to 
     use flexibility in meeting these requirements so that the 
     educational needs of the students and the diverse conditions 
     in the state are met; and
       Whereas, career and technical education teachers are often 
     hired from industries in which a bachelor's degree is not the 
     preferred level of certification; and
       Whereas, the Washington State Legislature passed 
     legislation in 2006 that recognizes credit for core academic 
     subjects learned through career and technical education, but 
     if the teacher does not have a bachelor's degree the school 
     district must report them to parents as ``not highly 
     qualified,'' which places these teachers at a disadvantage in 
     school districts; and
       Whereas, positive changes in the definition of highly 
     qualified teachers will assist in the awarding of equivalency 
     credits and remove the stigma surrounding industry-certified 
     teachers; and
       Whereas, providers of supplemental services instruct 
     students and are funded with federal funds, therefore these 
     providers must meet the same safety and qualification 
     standards required of public school educators; and
       Whereas, supplemental services are most appropriately 
     provided by public schools,

[[Page S5869]]

     public school educators should be allowed to offer 
     supplemental services to qualifying students; and
       Whereas, the Act imposes significant costs on the state and 
     local school districts, teachers, and paraprofessionals; and
       Whereas, these costs include the administration of newly 
     required assessments, and the costs of staff development, 
     certification upgrades, and coursework; now, therefore, your 
     Memorialists respectfully request that the President and 
     Congress of the United States work together with state 
     legislatures and the United States Department of Education to 
     raise authorized funding levels of the No Child Left Behind 
     Act to cover the costs that states and districts will incur 
     to carry out these recommendations, and fully fund the law at 
     those levels without reducing expenditures for other 
     education programs and to improve language in the Act and 
     regulations concerning its implementation, to make 
     improvements to address the issues raised in this Memorial, 
     and to grant the time, flexibility, and changes that will 
     ensure successful nationwide implementation of the No Child 
     Left Behind Act; be it
       Resolved, That copies of this Memorial be immediately 
     transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the 
     United States, the President of the United States Senate, the 
     Speaker of the House of Representatives, each member of 
     Congress from the State of Washington, and the Governor of 
     the State of Washington.

                          ____________________