[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 26110-26111]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                OPPOSE THE REPUBLICAN STRAIGHT F'S BILL

  (Mr. ETHERIDGE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, this morning I rise as the former 
superintendent of my State's schools to express my concerns about H.R. 
2300, a bill which the House will consider later this week.
  The Republican leadership has labeled this bill the ``Straight A's'' 
bill.

[[Page 26111]]

But as someone who knows a little something about education in this 
country, I can tell my colleagues that this bill should be called the 
``Straight F's'' bill. The Straight F's bill fails our children, it 
fails our schools and it fails our taxpayers.
  Mr. Speaker, I strongly support flexibility in Federal education 
funds. As a longtime school reformer, I strongly support innovation 
that will improve education for all of our children. However, this bill 
fails to meet these standards in several ways.
  The Straight F's bill fails our schools by undermining the national 
commitment to education, the Straight F's bill fails our children by 
eliminating the targeting of funds to high poverty areas, and the 
Straight F's bill fails our taxpayers by doing away with accountability 
standards and allowing tax money to be spent on ways that will not best 
suit our students.
  Mr. Speaker, I call on this Congress to reject H.R. 2300.
  We should reverse course and support school construction, teacher 
training, technology upgrades, after school care, year-round schools, 
School Resource Officers, character education and class size reduction 
initiatives that will improve education for our children.

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