[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 102 (Friday, June 22, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1385]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               INVEST IN EDUCATION, INVEST IN THE FUTURE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 21, 2007

  Ms. LEE. Madam Speaker, forty years ago, the U.S. was number one in 
the world in high school graduation rates. Today it ranks 17th.
  About \1/3\ of the students who enter 9th grade each fall will not 
graduate from high school with 4 years, if at all now in 2007. High 
school students living in low-income families drop out of school at 6 
times the rate of their peers from high income families. Dropout rates 
are especially high in communities of color: Only about 55 percent of 
African American students and 52 percent of Hispanic students graduate 
on time from high school with a regular diploma, compared to 78 percent 
of white students. In my hometown of Oakland, CA, the dropout rate for 
Black males is 74 percent.
  In this country, there are about 2,000 high schools that produce the 
majority of dropouts. Six million students throughout America are 
currently at risk of dropping out of school. Students who fail to 
graduate from high school are more likely to participate in criminal 
activity than students who do graduate. Likewise, students with low 
levels of achievement in high school are more likely to engage in crime 
than students with high levels of achievement.
  For example, the Harvard University Civil Rights Project and the 
Urban lnstitute Education Policy Center conducted a study on K-12 
schools in California. The center estimated that Oakland's 52 percent 
dropout rate costs the state $14 billion in lost wages, crime and jail 
time.
  lnvesting in education would save millions of dollars in crime-
related expenditures annually, not to mention ensuring a quality of 
life that young people deserve or America's standing in the world.
  The statistics are staggering and tell the story. Approximately 75 
percent of state prison inmates did not complete high school. High 
school dropouts are 3.5 time more likely than high school graduates to 
be arrested in their lifetimes. And a mere one percent increase in high 
school graduation rates would save approximately $1.4 billion in costs 
associated with incarceration costs, or about $2,100 for each male high 
school graduate.
  We must do better by our children. Nothing less than the future of 
this country is at take. That is why I am committed to effective reform 
that can transform high schools and keep students at the greatest risk 
of dropping out on the path to graduation.
  I'm proud to support authorizing legislation that will soon be 
introduced which will help address some of the reforms that are needed 
and that is why I'm proud to be an advocate on the Labor, Health and 
Human Services and Education subcommittee working to appropriate 
funding to address the crisis in dropouts that our country is facing. 
Clearly, we need increased investments in programs that keep kids in 
school and learning.
  School counseling bill: On the Labor, Health and Human Services 
subcommittee, I worked with my colleagues to include $61.5 million for 
elementary and secondary school counseling in the FY08 bill that is 
currently working its way through our committee. This is a 77.5 percent 
increase in a program that the President would have eliminated. These 
funds enable school districts to hire academic counselors, 
psychologists, and social workers. The additional resources will be 
targeted to improving and expanding academic and mental health 
counseling to middle and high school adolescents. This significant 
increase is a tremendous step toward addressing the crisis in 
counseling in our schools.
  After School programs: Another critical tool we have in our arsenal 
to fight drop out and to keep kids off the street and for preventing 
youth violence is our nation's after school programs. The fact of the 
matter is that between 3-6 p.m. the rate of juvenile crime triples.

  On LHHS subcommittee, we were able to provide a $125 million increase 
over FY07 levels for a total of over a billion dollars for the 21st 
century community learning centers. This program is a formula grant to 
states which in turn distribute 95 percent of the funds on a 
competitive basis to local school districts, community based 
organization and other organization for after school activities that 
make sure that young people have alternatives to getting into trouble.
  UPWARD BOUND/Trio and Gear UP: I want to echo the comments of my 
colleagues here tonight about the problems we are fighting as it 
relates to the Absolute Priority regulation and the concerns over the 
loss of funding for numerous previously funded grantees including 30 
percent of our HBCU's and Mills College in my district. I know that 
working together we will resolve these critical issues and I want to 
specifically thank Bobby Scott and Gwen Moore for their leadership on 
the Education committee and on this issue.
  We all understand just how critical these programs that provide a 
variety of outreach and support services to encourage low-income 
students to enter an complete college. That is why I'm pleased our LHHS 
subcommittee was able to provide a $40 million increase in funding for 
the TRIO programs and a $20 million increase for the GEAR UP program.
  It is time that our policy and funding priorities take a new 
direction for our children. That means investing in education. When we 
do that, we invest in our future.

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