[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6305-6312]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   SCHOOL MODERNIZATION INITIATIVE--KEY COMPONENT OF 1999 DEMOCRATIC 
                            EDUCATION AGENDA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 1999, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Roybal-Allard) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, one of the priorities of the Clinton 
administration and congressional Democrats is improving education. 
Democrats recognize that the future of this country depends upon 
ensuring that all American children receive a high quality education 
that prepares them for the jobs of the 21st century. Democrats believe 
that every public school must be a place where facilities are up to 
date and in good repair, where classrooms are not overcrowded, where 
the environment is safe and drug-free, where students have adequate 
textbooks and computers, and where teachers are well-qualified. This is 
why Democrats are once again promoting an aggressive, comprehensive 
agenda to strengthen and improve our Nation's public schools.
  This evening, I would like to highlight a key component of the 1999 
Democratic education agenda, the school modernization initiative. This 
initiative will help address the tragic conditions of overcrowded and 
crumbling American schools. Sadly, Mr. Speaker, thousands of our public 
school children are trying to learn in schools that are overcrowded and 
in desperate need of repair. This problem is exacerbated by the fact 
that our country has the highest number of students in our history and 
enrollment will continue to grow at a considerable rate for at least 
the next decade. In order to keep pace with this growth, the Department 
of Education has estimated that we need to build 6,000 new schools over 
the next 10 years just to maintain current class size. This crisis is 
compounded by the fact that in addition to our overcrowded schools, 
many of our existing schools are in desperate need of repair. According 
to a 1998 report by the American Society of Civil Engineers, American 
schools are in worse shape than any other part of our Nation's 
infrastructure, including our roads, our bridges and our mass transit. 
Moreover, in 1995, the nonpartisan General Accounting Office, in an in-
depth study on the condition of the Nation's public elementary and 
secondary schools, found that 60 percent of our schools in all regions 
of the countries are in desperate need of repair. Thirty-eight percent 
of our urban schools, 30 percent of our rural schools and 29 percent of 
suburban schools have at least one building in need of a new roof, a 
new plumbing system, a new floor or a new electrical system. In 
addition, 58 percent of our Nation's schools face serious environmental 
problems, such as ventilation, heating, air conditioning and lighting 
problems, along with environmental hazards such as asbestos, lead in 
the water and lead-based paint and Radon.

                              {time}  1515

  These conditions are dangerous and unacceptable. Leaky roofs, 
buildings in despair and overcrowded classrooms are not merely 
annoyances or inconveniences. They are barriers to learning.
  This is substantiated by study after study that has produced strong 
evidence of the link between academic achievement and the condition of 
our schools. Students who attend class in clean, safe buildings not 
only do better academically, they also receive a far more positive 
message about their self worth than students who must attend run-down 
and overcrowded schools.
  That is why President Clinton and the Democrats in Congress have a 
responsible and realistic blueprint for improving our schools. In order 
to help States and localities address this critical issue, the 
President has again included his school modernization initiative in his 
budget proposal for this year. Democrats in the House and Senate 
support this much needed proposal and have included it in their family 
first agenda.
  Mr. Speaker, this proposal creates a Federal tax credit to finance 
the interest on bonds which States and local school districts can issue 
for school construction and repair. These bonds would generate $22 
billion in funding to build and modernize our public schools while 
costing the Federal Government only 2 to $3 billion over the next five 
years.
  Mr. Speaker, this is not another program leading to federal control 
over local public schools. Instead under this legislation the Federal 
Government will be a partner with State and local governments. It will 
be States and localities that will determine their needs and decide 
when, where and even if they want to spend Federal funds to modernize 
their schools, and State and local participation in this program will 
be totally voluntary.
  Most importantly, local school districts around the country are in 
favor of this proposal.
  While it is true that historically States and local districts have 
shouldered the majority of the responsibility for our schools, this 
crisis is of such a magnitude, an estimated $12 billion nationally, 
that States simply cannot solve this problem alone.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a national crisis. The education of our children 
is not only critical to their personal growth, but to our country's 
ability to compete in the highly technical and global economy of the 
21st century. Federal support is essential and in the best interests of 
our Nation.
  In closing I would like to give my colleagues an illustration of the 
severity of the problem.
  This is a picture of Balmont High School in Los Angeles, although it 
could be anywhere in this Nation. As

[[Page 6306]]

my colleagues can see, the roof of this gymnasium has multiple leaks, 
and when it rains, they need to put garbage cans in order to collect 
the water so that the gym is not completely flooded.
  These are pictures of two other schools in Los Angeles, both with 
extensive water damage which has caused the ceiling tiles to fall off, 
leaving wiring and piping exposed. It is clearly not a safe environment 
in which our children can learn.
  Mr. Speaker, what message are we sending to our nation's children and 
their parents if Congress sits idle while our schools continue to fall 
apart? I urge my colleagues to support the democratic school 
modernization initiative.
  Mr. Speaker, I now yield the remainder of my time to my colleague 
from Texas (Mr. Hinojosa), a man who is a champion of education and the 
chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Task Force on Education and 
Training.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gillmor). Without objection, the 
gentlewoman's request to give the balance of her time to the gentleman 
from Texas is agreed to, and the gentleman from Texas is recognized for 
the balance of the 60 minutes.
  Mr. HINOJOSA. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate having this opportunity to 
help carry the ball on these issues of such importance to our 
children's education. The work the gentlewoman from California (Ms. 
Roybal-Allard) is doing on behalf of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus 
is outstanding, and I congratulate her.
  Mr. Speaker, as a Member of the House Committee on Education and the 
Workforce and chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus' Education 
Task Force, it is my privilege to discuss the caucus' legislative 
priorities in the area of education for the 106th Congress. Let us 
start with the unacceptably high hispanic dropout rate.
  Simply put, this is an urgent problem that is not getting any better. 
Over the last 25 years the dropout for both white and African American 
young adults has declined by almost 40 percent. Hispanic youth, 
however, have only shared in part of this improvement. Far too many of 
our students fail to reach their academic potential. Nationwide the 
percentage of hispanic students dropping out of school is twice the 
rate of other ethnic groups. Over all, about 38 percent of hispanic 
young adults have dropped out of high school compared to only 17 
percent of African American and only 8\1/2\ percent of our white young 
adults. These figures are simply unacceptable, Mr. Speaker.
  As we all know, our current economy, unlike 40 years ago, generates 
few meaningful jobs for people without a high school education. Because 
of the restructuring of our Nation's economy, not having a high school 
diploma or its equivalent poses a much stronger burden than it did 
decades ago when jobs with social and economic mobility were within 
reach of these with limited educational background and skills. In our 
present economy even high school graduation is not enough to pave the 
way to a middle class life. The good jobs are knowledge intensive.
  Throughout the past 2 years the Congressional Hispanic Caucus has 
focused particular attention on the hispanic dropout crisis, but there 
remains much work to be done. As a Member of the House Committee on 
Education and the Workforce, I look forward to working with my 
colleagues in my Committee on Education and the Workforce and on both 
sides of the aisle of Congress to eradicate this educational crisis.
  On the subject of bilingual education I want to give credit where 
credit is due. I applaud the congressional leaders who are working to 
improve educational opportunities for hispanic students such as my good 
friend, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Reyes) who recently, only 2 weeks 
ago, presented his ideas regarding excellence in education for limited 
English proficient students. Congressman Reyes has made some excellent 
points which I agree with and endorse on the complex issue of bilingual 
education.
  The Ysleta Independent School District in El Paso, Texas, is proof 
that bilingual education works. It is a place where two languages are 
used without apology and where becoming proficient in both is 
considered a significant intellectual accomplishment. We need to 
prepare our limited English proficient students to function, to excel, 
in a world economy where being bilingual is an asset and a resource. 
School districts such as Ysleta recognize and understand that 
bilingualism is an asset, an intellectual accomplishment, and I applaud 
Congressman Reyes and El Paso for their progressive thinking.
  Lastly, Mr. Speaker, I would like to address the reauthorization of 
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the largest elementary and 
secondary federal aid package targeted at low income and low achieving 
students. Funding for ESEA currently represents an annual $12 billion 
investment in our Nation's future. ESEA is a vital program to all of 
the Nation's children. It includes critical funding for many programs 
aimed at serving the hispanic student population.
  As President Clinton has stated, the 30 percent dropout rate of 
hispanic high school students is a national economic crisis of great 
urgency. Expansion of exemplary education programs is needed to 
increase the education attainment level in the hispanic community as 
well as school modernization, as well as after school programs, class 
size reduction in Grades K through 3, teacher training and expansion of 
gear-up programs at the middle schools. These significant issues must 
be considered in the reauthorization of the ESEA, and I certainly hope 
we are going to reauthorize ESEA in this Congress as an entire package, 
not piecemeal.
  Mr. Speaker, I now yield to my esteemed colleague from the great 
State of New York (Mrs. McCarthy).
  Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Speaker, education is my number one 
priority since I came to Congress. Providing our children with a good 
education and a bright future is one of our most effective tools for 
ending gun violence, drug abuse and poverty in our country. I spend so 
much time in my schools back on Long Island talking with students, 
teachers, our principals, superintendents and our parents about how we 
can make the education system work better. In visiting these schools I 
see students and teachers who are committed to education, and these are 
visits that have shown show me what there is in grade schools in my 
district. But these visits have also shown me what our schools and 
where they need help. Many of the buildings in which our students learn 
are inadequate, overcrowded and certainly in poor condition.
  As my colleagues have pointed out, building new improved schools must 
be a top priority. That is why I am delighted the administration has 
made school construction a top priority. But hand in hand with building 
more schools is reducing class size.
  I was delighted with the administration's initiative to hire a 
hundred thousand new teachers over the next 7 years to reduce class 
size in Grades 1 through 3 to a national level of 18 students. I 
actually would take this down one step further. I happen to believe 
that we should only have 15 students in every classroom through 1 
through 3. We have seen the research that shows 15 in a classroom is 
where our young students make the most progress. This is simply common 
sense.
  It states that what most parents and teachers already know from 
experience--smaller class size promotes effective teaching and 
learning. Smaller class size allows for a smaller manageable work load 
for the teachers and enable children to receive individual attention. 
This type of one-on-one attention can solve a lot of the problems 
before they start.
  I am on the the Committee on Education and the Workforce and will be 
spending most of this year addressing problems like these: teacher 
training, school construction, reducing class sizes. We reauthorize the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act. With all of this, it is so 
important to make sure our teachers that are in the classroom now also 
have continuing education so they can come up to the time that we are 
talking about as far as being able

[[Page 6307]]

to use computers so they can teach on the Internet. So, I strongly 
support continuing education for our teachers.
  The act which I refer to is ERISA. It deals with all aspects of K 
through 12 education.
  We all know what it will take to improve our educational system: 
well-prepared teachers, new buildings, less crowded classrooms. It is 
time that we show our young people that we are committed to their 
education and to their future.

                              {time}  1530

  I am one of those believers that believes education can help our 
whole country as a whole. The more we educate our young people, 
certainly the better job opportunities they will have in the future. 
The better job opportunities they have in the future will help our 
businesses across this country, and that certainly will keep our 
economy strong.
  We have to look at this as a whole picture. All we have to do is ask 
anyone, whether it is from Long Island or New York, whether it is 
California, whether it is New Mexico, what is the number one issue as 
far as you are concerned? It is education. It is the key to the future 
of this country.
  Mr. HINOJOSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield time to my friend, the gentleman 
from the great territory of Puerto Rico (Mr. Romero-Barcelo).
  Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO. Mr. Speaker, it never ceases to amaze me how much 
passion, or more precisely how much hysteria, the issue of language can 
generate. I use the word ``hysteria'' because concern and fear about 
the supposed decline of English language usage in the United States 
bears no relation to reality.
  We are 2 months into the 106th Congress and already three bills and 
one resolution have been introduced in the House of Representatives to 
make English the official language of the U.S.
  The underlying premise of English-only legislation is expressed in 
H.R. 123, which says, ``Throughout the history of the United States, 
the common thread binding individuals of different backgrounds has been 
a common language.''
  The problem here is that the premise of English as a national glue is 
faulty. It ignores and, by default, it trivializes the very thing that 
has made the United States a beacon to the politically and economically 
oppressed people of the world. Wave upon wave of immigrants have come 
to the United States not to speak English, for heaven's sake. They have 
come because they are desperate for freedom. They are desperate to 
participate in this great democracy. They are eager to participate in 
the American dream.
  The enduring bond between our culturally diverse population is and 
always has been a shared commitment to the democratic principles of 
freedom, justice, liberty and equal opportunity for all.
  Most immigrants come to the United States to build a better life, and 
every immigrant knows that in order to make the American dream a 
personal reality, English fluency is a must. There are immigrants who 
literally lose sleep to master English.
  The issue is not whether immigrants want to learn English. They have 
more than demonstrated their determination to speak the language. The 
question is how best to promote fluency and general learning among 
young immigrant students, and this brings us to the heated controversy 
over bilingual education.
  I endorse bilingual education and I am anxious to see the development 
of programs and funding to increase the number of bilingual teachers. 
Last year as a member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
of the House of Representatives, I submitted a proposal to create a 
scholarship program for students who are proficient in English and 
Spanish and want to be teachers in the Nation's public school system.
  The scholarship would be named after Frank Tejeda, the former 
Representative from the 28th District of Texas, who died in 1997 while 
serving his third term in Congress. This proposal was passed by the 
House, but was not included in the higher reauthorization education 
bill that came out of conference.
  Bilingual education programs need to be applied with flexibility and 
with an eye to their effectiveness. Students learn in a variety of 
different ways, and it is the difficult job of educators to balance 
program structure with the flexibility necessary to address individual 
needs.
  Educators must constantly evaluate the effectiveness of existing and 
proposed bilingual programs because there is something seriously wrong 
where minority parents have to sue school districts in order to opt out 
of bilingual programs which in theory have been established to meet 
their children's English language needs.
  Unfortunately, English-only proposals are simplistic and a 
reactionary response to the challenges of a multicultural society. 
Worse, they threaten to deprive minorities of their heritage, their 
culture and the protections guaranteed to them by the Constitution.
  If the free speech provision of the First Amendment does not protect 
language, what does it safeguard? How does one separate speech from the 
language that frames it? English-only proponents seem to forget that 
the very purpose of a democracy is to give people a voice. Congress 
should have no part in silencing those who cannot articulate their 
needs, their problems or their issues in English. To do so is 
definitely un-American.
  Mr. HINOJOSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend, the gentleman from 
the great State of Texas (Mr. Rodriguez).
  Mr. RODRIGUEZ. Mr. Speaker, this year we have an opportunity to 
reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. I, like many of 
our Members, we are all concerned in terms of the changes that we 
foresee and some of the things that might happen. One of the things 
that I would like to do this afternoon is talk about the importance of 
bilingual education.
  One of the main programs the schools rely on is bilingual education. 
For many of these youngsters and the students in my district, this is 
not an option but a necessity. This program allows these individuals an 
opportunity to be able to learn the core items of the curriculum in 
their native language so that they will be able to function as quickly 
as possible in the English language.
  This program allows our children to feel included in the learning 
process. From firsthand experience, I can say that I started in the 
first grade not knowing English, and it took me 5 to 6 years to 
comprehend what was occurring in the classroom. Now I have learned that 
language acquisition requires from 5 to 7 years to be able to learn a 
second language, and so it is important for us to have a good 
understanding of what it takes to learn a second language.
  Programs like bilingual education will allow our students the 
opportunity to learn not only English but learn basic subjects in the 
native tongue that are essential for continued growth and development.
  As we move to a global economy, more and more languages will be 
considered a necessary resource. The highly competitive nature of 
today's global economy underscores the importance of knowing more than 
one language. America needs bilingual education to produce educated, 
well-informed citizens.
  The Texas Educational Agency commissioner supports this idea by 
stating, ``In the future all children should be trilingual: proficient 
in their native language, proficient in a second language and 
proficient in computer literacy. The business community understands the 
value of trained multilingual employees. We must offer a work force 
that can meet such demands.'' This is the commissioner from Texas.
  By supporting bilingual education, we are supporting our country and 
also the importance of learning English, at the same time retaining as 
much of the native language as possible.
  It also is important that through bilingual education and various 
types of

[[Page 6308]]

options, the two-way developmental bilingual education programs, for 
example, English speakers and language minority students are in the 
same classrooms learning all grade level skills at the same time.
  Studies show that the most successful programs, models for language 
for minority students, as well as for native English speaking, 
bilingual education is a tool that fosters a successful future for 
these Americans. Bilingual education is an investment that pays off.
  If we are to make changes in bilingual education, I hope that it is 
to improve in terms of assessing the importance of teacher training. We 
do need teachers to be well trained, to be able to provide that 
instruction. We also need the ability of the staff to be evaluated and 
for those programs to be assessed to see how well they are doing. Also 
important are the initiatives that include parents in the teaching of 
their children.
  These are drastically needed and we hope that as we look forward that 
these are some of the things that we will be looking at.
  Again, I would also just stress that in the bilingual education we 
will also see dual language instruction that allows both monolingual 
English-speaking youngsters as well as monolingual Spanish-speaking and 
other language youngsters be able to work together and learn both 
languages at the same time.
  As we move forward in the global economy, we all recognize the 
importance of knowing more than one language, and I hope that as we 
look forward, we move in this direction. I hope that there is no talk 
of eliminating bilingual education or thinking that Washington, D.C., 
is a platform for implementing a national 227 initiative. This is not 
the place. There will never be a time for it to be addressed.
  If we do not continue to support bilingual education, we will do a 
disservice to our children and our Nation. I encourage everyone to 
support the program. It is a beautiful program.
  Mr. HINOJOSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend, the gentleman from 
the great and progressive State of North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge).
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend and colleague 
from Texas (Mr. Hinojosa) for putting together this special order this 
afternoon because it is on a topic that is important not just to our 
Hispanic students and their families; it is important to every 
American.
  Let me take just a moment to speak as a former State superintendent 
of the State of North Carolina, a State that is seeing tremendous 
growth in our enrollment of students of Hispanic background.
  Let me also thank the gentleman for his leadership on educational 
issues as a leader in the Hispanic Caucus, and also as a cochair of the 
House Education Caucus, the Democratic side, and his work there. He 
understands the needs not only of Hispanic students and Latinos, but of 
all children in our public schools; and I thank him for that.
  Mr. Speaker, North Carolina has a rapidly growing Latino population, 
as do many of the other States in this country. They come, as my 
colleagues who have preceded me to this rostrum today have said, for 
economic opportunity. They come for a variety of reasons; and, yes, 
they bring their children and want them to have the same educational 
opportunity as other children.
  As a superintendent, I worked hard to serve the educational needs of 
our Latino community, because they are an important component of the 
future of this country. If anyone who is watching today does not 
understand that, all they need do is read our papers and look at the 
demographics and how our country is changing and the contributions they 
are making to our society in so many ways today and will continue to in 
the future.
  The biggest barrier to children, the biggest barrier to their 
learning, is language. We have just heard that. If a child cannot 
understand the language, then they have a difficult time understanding 
math or science or history or whatever they are being taught.
  In North Carolina, and in most of the school systems in this country, 
but I will speak specifically about North Carolina and our needs at the 
national level to do some of these things, implementing English as a 
second language has served the Latino community better than anything 
else.
  The reason for that is that young children need to understand the 
language. As I have said, the number of non-English speaking students, 
not just Latinos but of all languages coming to our shores, have 
skyrocketed in North Carolina in recent years. It has increased almost 
29 percent; 32 percent last year was the increase in just the Latino 
numbers in our State.
  English as a second language works better for youngsters who are in 
kindergarten to second grade. Let me say why. It takes only 6 to 18 
months for those students at a very early age to be proficient and be 
able to handle it in the classroom, but for high school students it 
takes 5 to 7 years to bring them up to speed.
  Why? Because we do not have the teachers, we do not have the 
resources and we are not focusing, in my opinion, as we should.
  Let me say of an elementary school in my State, happens to be in my 
district, in Lee County, in Sanford, where they have an outstanding 
teacher. She taught Spanish for a number of years. She lived in Spain 
for about 5. She teaches prekindergarten youngsters.
  In just 1 year, in just 1 school year, she can bring those students 
to proficiency. They can acclimate to the classroom and compete with 
other students and do an outstanding job. That is an indication of 
immersing students in English, giving them an opportunity in the second 
language. They spend a number of hours each day in this class, but they 
also get to go to their regular classes. That is why English as a 
second language is so important.
  There is not enough funding at the Federal level and not enough at 
the State level to meet the needs of our students. The Hispanic Caucus 
is providing tremendous leadership on education, as well as this issue 
of language barriers. It is not isolated to this caucus because they 
reach across the lines and work with all the other caucuses, because we 
have a lot of children in our schools who need this help. I think we 
have an obligation to put our message and our vote where our mouth is.

                              {time}  1545

  It is easy for Members to come to this floor and talk about how 
important education is, and then they fail to realize if a child cannot 
understand the language, they cannot learn. Today we have a number of 
students and others in the gallery. I will guarantee the Members, they 
would tell us the very same thing.
  I want to thank the Caucus for their help, not just on the language 
issues, but the understanding of the needs of children in classrooms 
that are overcrowded; in putting more teachers in the classroom, and in 
helping by voting in support of the 100,000 teachers, as the President 
proposed.
  They have also have also been helpful in supporting H.R. 996, a bill 
that I introduced, the Etheridge School Construction Act, to fit the 
needs of these communities that are growing so rapidly. The classrooms 
are overcrowded. Teachers do not have decent places to teach. That is 
just not acceptable in a day and time when we have the resources to 
make it happen.
  This bill would provide tax credits to finance local construction 
bonds across the country in those areas that have great needs. Texas is 
one of those States. That is one of the second fastest-growing States 
in America. It will make a difference. I thank them for their help on 
that. We now have over 100 cosponsors on this bill. I urge the Members 
of the other body to join us.
  Mr. Speaker, again I thank my colleagues from Texas and all those in 
the Caucus who are working so hard to make education for all children a 
top priority, but specifically making sure that languages are available 
for those children who do not understand the English language, to help 
them to get up to speed so they can become a full player in this 
economic system of the 21st century, because the future will belong to 
the educated.

[[Page 6309]]




                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gillmor). Members are reminded not to 
refer to occupants of the gallery.
  Mr. HINOJOSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from the great 
State of California (Ms. Sanchez), the most populous State in the 
Nation.
  Ms. SANCHEZ. Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak today a little bit 
about school construction, and in particular because my colleague who 
just spoke, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge) spoke a 
little bit about the school construction bill, and I would like to tell 
America and my colleagues, so they will sponsor this bill, a little bit 
about it.
  The Expand and Rebuild America's Schools Act is H.R. 415. I know 
quite a bit about it because I am the author of that bill. We put it in 
last year and we did not get it passed. This year we hope that we will 
be able to do it. What does the bill do? The bill addresses one of the 
most crucial crises facing this Nation; that is, where do we educate 
our children?
  Now, some people would say that at the Federal level we should not be 
dealing with school construction. I would say that we deal at the 
Federal level with those issues that do not get answered at the State 
or local level. One of the major problems that we have with our schools 
is where do we educate our children, the room in which we educate our 
children.
  I happen to represent a great area, Anaheim, California, Santa Ana, 
Garden Grove, Irvine, the central portion of Orange County. In the next 
5 years, our school population will grow by over 25 percent. That is 
almost twice as fast the rate of growth as the five fastest growing 
States with respect to school population across the Nation.
  That means not only is California growing faster in the amount of 
children who are entering public schools, or Texas, for example, or 
Florida, or New York, or Illinois, but in central Orange County we are 
growing at twice that rate.
  That means that if we take a look at a school district, for example, 
Anaheim City School District, an elementary school district, 
kindergarten through 6th graders go there, there are 17,000 children 
attending that school district. Every year we grow by more than a 
thousand children.
  I know about this school district because I attended it as a child, 
and the very same school that I attended with about 500 or 600 children 
today houses almost 1,000 children. Those other schools that are 
patterned exactly like the elementary school that I attended in the 
rest of the district have 1,000, 1,100, 1,200 children attending in the 
space that was made for 600 children.
  How do these kids get there? How is it that we are able to put them 
in the classrooms? We have portable classrooms. We now have double 
sessions. That means that some children go early in the morning and 
others come later in the day, so we have a double session going. We now 
have year-around school. We do not have the traditional 9 months on and 
3 months of the summer off. We actually have 4 different tracks of 
students going to school at any given time.
  Now, imagine if you were a mother and you have two or three children, 
and let us say one of those children is in the middle school or the 
high school, and they have their own school program going, where they 
are going 9 months and then 3 months off. And let us say you have two 
young children also at home, both attending the elementary school. One 
could be going at 8 in the morning, and the next one would have to be 
going to school and starting at 10:15.
  Now, imagine, you are a mom at home and you have these three 
children, and you are trying to take them around to soccer and to 
school and to the doctor's appointments and all, and all three 
schedules are not the same. So if you are a mother who wants to take 
three children at the same time to the same school, you cannot do that 
any longer in the city of Anaheim. It is very difficult to do.
  Then, of course, there are the safety issues of sending our kids like 
that, kids who go out in the morning because they have a 7:30 or 8 a.m. 
schedule, and kids who come home late because they are on the late 
schedule and may be walking home in the dark. Think about the problems 
that we are creating with respect to the school schedules.
  Then, of course, there are the portable classrooms that we are now 
putting onto that school that houses 600 children so we can house more, 
so we can house the 900 or the 1,000 or the 1,200 children, portables 
that sit on blacktop and the green grass, where I used to play: less 
space, double lunches, children going in at 7:30 in the morning so they 
can have lunch at 9:30. Think about that. We would not do that to 
ourselves in the business world.
  Let us talk about business, because I am a businesswoman. If I were 
to start a small business today, let us say out of my home, like so 
many people are doing today, how many telephone lines would I have 
coming into my office, that extra room in my house set up as my office? 
At least three, do we not think?
  Let us say it was just you working on a consulting basis or doing 
things like accounting or what have you. You would have at least three 
lines. One, you would want to be on the Internet. You would want to 
have your computer set up; two, you would probably like to have a fax; 
three, you would probably have a line or maybe two lines where someone 
could be calling in and you could put them on hold while you talk to 
somebody else.
  Well, in these elementary schools in Anaheim, the entire school has 
only three phone lines to it. Now imagine, you are the principal. You 
are calling out. There is one phone line. If your PTA was great and was 
able to raise funds, you would have a fax machine in your office, and 
you might be faxing some information out to a colleague or somebody 
else.
  Then, of course, kids get sick, so in the morning parents are calling 
in to say, my kid is not coming to school. If you are a parent and 
calling in and there is one line dedicated to the fax and one that the 
principal is calling out to talk to a parent or to somebody else, that 
means there is one line, one line to call in and say your kid is sick. 
Imagine if there are 40 children sick that day out of 1,200. That could 
be a possibility. Imagine the busy signals that you would get or the 
inability to get through.
  Now, imagine if there was a problem at the school and there was a 
safety hazard or something was going on and you only had three lines, 
also. You would not start a business in your own home with less than 
three lines. Why do we allow elementary schools to have 1,200 children, 
10 or 15 staff people, 80 teachers, and only three phone lines? That is 
the state that our schools are in today. That is why room, the fourth 
R, is so necessary.
  That is why at the Federal level we need to be concerned about the 
rooms in which we teach our children. They should be modern. They 
should have the technology of the future. They should have the 
computers and the Internet and the telephone lines, but more 
importantly, they should be a space that our children could learn in.
  The bill that I am offering is not about taxing people more and 
sending it to Washington, and then deciding what schools we want to be 
nice to and sending it back to California or Texas. It is about letting 
people actually keep the money in their area by not sending it to 
Washington, by giving tax credits.
  Schools that qualify would need to have help, they would have to be 
on a heavy burden list, one like the city of Anaheim, where we need 
more classrooms, and we can show that we need the growth. Schools would 
also be required to work public-private partnerships and have 
businesses working with them, and maybe the businesses would buy the 
bonds that the local agency issues.
  Third, the responsibility of deciding to issue bonds in order for the 
interest to be given as a tax credit by the Federal Government would 
have to be a local decision. That means that on a local level, a 
community needs to get together and decide that they are willing to 
pass a bond issue in order to build a school in their area.

[[Page 6310]]

  Local control, not sending the money to Washington, but giving it 
back, in a sense, in a tax credit, that is what the Rebuild American 
Schools Act would do. That is why I hope that when people realize that 
this is really about putting responsibility on the local level to 
decide that they are going to do something about it, and the Federal 
Government stepping in and saying, we are going to help you to do that, 
we are not going to give it to you, but we are going to help you to 
solve your problem, that is why this act, this bill, makes a difference 
and is important.
  It is a matter of national security. It is a matter of national 
security that our children learn in a school environment that is 
conducive to the 21st century, not in what people have to learn in in 
Anaheim.
  I know because I used to go there as a child. I have seen the closet 
where the janitor used to push his barrel with his mops and put them 
away for the night. That closet has been turned into a classroom for 
six special ed children and their teacher. This is what we are doing to 
our children, we are putting them in closets so they can learn. How do 
we expect them to learn? How do we expect people to learn, children to 
learn, if they do not have the classroom space?
  I was talking about portables earlier. The Santa Ana Unified School 
District, another area that I represent, if we took the portables that 
sit on its 26 permanent schools and pulled them off and made real 
permanent schools out of those portable classrooms, there would be 27 
new schools built; 26 existing, 27 worth of portable classrooms on 
those areas.
  There is no room to play. There is no room for recess. There is no 
room for lunch. If it is hot, as it gets in Southern California, there 
is no shade when you are eating your lunch. If it rains, what do 
children do? There are even some classes that are taught outside 
without a classroom.
  This is why the Federal Government needs to get involved, and we get 
involved in a very specific way, with those classrooms that need to be 
built by the neediest schools all across the Nation, with 
responsibility at the local level to decide to build them, and with 
returning money, not sending money to Washington, D.C., but leaving it 
in the local level to be invested in local communities.
  That is why I hope that my colleagues will join me in supporting H.R. 
415. I know there are many sponsors already who have spoken today on 
that bill, and I appreciate the time that they have given me, I say to 
the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hinojosa).
  Mr. HINOJOSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend from the great State 
of Texas (Mr. Gene Green).
  (Mr. GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and 
extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, 
the gentleman from Texas, and a member of the Committee on Education 
and the Workforce for organizing this special order this afternoon.
  It is hard to ignore the fact that our country is one of the greatest 
in the world, Mr. Speaker, and we have crumbling classrooms and 
overcrowded classrooms. Research has shown that students do not learn 
well in overcrowded classrooms and schools.
  Some schools have problems with ventilation, heating, air 
conditioning, lighting, water, along with environmental hazards, such 
as asbestos. Worst of all, many schools do not have access to the 
Internet. The advantages of the Internet are unlimited. It is one of 
the most important educational tools, and provides instant access to a 
wealth of information.

                              {time}  1600

  We need to provide the necessary funding to enable local schools not 
only to modernize and to rebuild their classrooms, but to make sure 
each student has access to the Internet.
  One of these schools could be preparing the first person to land on 
Mars, cure cancer or AIDS, or halt global warming. In fact, Mr. 
Speaker, I had the opportunity this last Friday to have an astronaut 
from the Johnson Space Center, Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz, to visit a 
number of middle schools in my district in Houston, Texas.
  He looked out over the 8th graders in each of the rooms and said, 
``You are the generation that will be on Mars.'' We need to make sure 
those eighth graders are prepared to make that step onto Mars.
  Also last week, Mr. Speaker, during our break, I had a chance to 
visit the AAMA Learning Center in my district. AAMA is the Association 
for Advancement of Mexican Americans. They have a charter school in 
Houston, Texas. They received E-rate funding for their charter school 
in the amount of a little over $35,000.
  I was happy to see this funding was being used to provide counseling 
in reading and computer training to these youth in my district, but 
particularly Hispanic youth.
  The AAMA school, the George I. Sanchez High School, was established 
to take dropouts from our public school system and give them that 
second chance or that opportunity. When charter schools became in 
vogue, George I. Sanchez had been around for a number of years. When 
charter schools became in vogue, the George I. Sanchez School became 
one of those charter schools and is successful today, Mr. Speaker, 
because of the success. They are benefiting from the E-rate that will 
help that charter school help educate these students who are the 
leadership for tomorrow.
  We need to make sure that programs like AAMA's have the necessary 
funding so that all children have access to quality and innovative 
education to be competitive in this global economy we have.
  In addition, we need to finish the job of hiring the 100,000 new 
teachers to reduce class sizes in the early grades. My wife is a public 
school teacher in the Aldine district in Texas. Even in high school we 
have problems with overcrowding in our math classes. It is tougher to 
teach 35 children algebra, Mr. Speaker.
  In Texas, in 1984, the gentleman from south Texas knows because his 
former elected position was a State Board of Education member in Texas, 
Texas law changed it to where we had 22-to-1 pupil/teacher ratio in 
grades K through 4. That is great. The problem is we could not even 
keep up, and there are a lot of waivers having to be granted because of 
the need.
  We need that 22-to-1 not only on a State level, but we need it to be 
20-to-1 or 18-to-1 on a national level, particularly in elementary 
school grades, because that is where we set the tone for children to be 
good students.
  Of course, before they get to be high school algebra students or 
science students or English or math, we need to make sure those class 
sizes are also small. Because if we are preparing our children to take 
our place not only as astronauts and physicists and Members of 
Congress, we need to make sure they have every opportunity.
  Let us focus our energy on school modernizing initiatives so our 
children can learn in a safe and clean environment. Let us create a 
learning environment in our schools that inspires education and 
imagination. Let us reduce those class sizes so every child gets the 
attention and the guidance they need.
  Finally, let us provide state-of-the-art technology so that each 
child is prepared for the challenges and demands of the 21st century. 
These are measures that will make a difference in the education of our 
children and that will provide for the best learning environment for 
our children.
  I know the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hinojosa) has two very 
attractive and cute little girls, Mr. Speaker, and I have watched them, 
not only the 2 years he has served and now his third year, his second 
term in Congress.
  I remember my children went to public schools in Texas, and now a 
daughter who is starting medical school in Texas and a son who is going 
to graduate school at Texas A&M, they went to public schools. Public 
schools educate most of the people in our country.
  We cannot say that we are going to fail the public schools simply 
because they have a harder job today than they did when I was in public 
schools in the 1960s. We need to make sure we give them the resources, 
the technology,

[[Page 6311]]

the facilities, the smaller class sizes, and also the qualified 
teachers to be able to do it.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for allowing me to 
participate with him today.
  Mr. HINOJOSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Reyes), my friend and distinguished member of the delegation from my 
State.
  Mr. REYES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak about a different but equally important 
issue affecting education in America. As we prepare to embark upon the 
21st century, all of us know that the Technology Age is upon us.
  We live in a time when new ideas and innovations impact the way that 
we live, the way that we learn, the way that we work, and even the way 
that we play. Today's children cannot remember a time when fax 
machines, calculators, computers, or the Internet were not a part of 
their daily lives.
  Their world and the future that they will inherit will require not 
only an understanding of these innovations, but an ability to fully 
utilize them and integrate them into their work environment. No matter 
what occupation our children pursue, every American child must be 
versed in the technology that is permeating our society today.
  Mr. Speaker, a program that is making a tremendous impact is the E-
rate program. This program through the Schools and Libraries 
Corporation is providing discounted telecommunication services and 
Internet access to schools and libraries across the country.
  As a nation, we cannot afford to have only the affluent areas access 
the benefits of technology. Consequently, through this program, the E-
rate program, equal opportunity has been provided to minority and poor 
areas in urban and rural communities.
  The demand for this program and the funding is tremendous, as has 
been indicated by over 30,000 applications requested in the very first 
year. Fortunately, we were able to fund the majority of these requests 
through the E-rate fund with a total of almost $1.66 billion committed 
around the country.
  Even so, however, there were many school districts and libraries that 
were left out. Nearly 500 million in requests went unfunded this year. 
This means that not all schools and libraries received the necessary 
resources that they needed. That, Mr. Speaker, is unacceptable.
  There is good news and there is bad news. The good news is that there 
is a round two for the E-rate. The bad news now is that in round two 
there will be 2,000 more applications than last year. With over 32,000 
applications pending, clearly the need for discounted services and 
internal connections remains very high.
  We as a nation have always prided ourselves on giving each and every 
child the opportunity to receive an education that will benefit them in 
their future employment. This year as schools and libraries around the 
country make applications for round two of the E-rate discount, we must 
make sure that not one child is left out in achieving technical 
literacy.
  I want to encourage every Member of this Congress to stand up for our 
schools and libraries and encourage that they apply for year two 
funding. This is just as important as additional teachers, just as 
important as additional funding and additional pay for teachers, and 
certainly just as important as school construction and remodeling 
monies.
  Our children's future depends upon the educational tools and skills 
that we provide them today. We, as a nation, must uphold our commitment 
to our children. This will determine the solvency and the prosperity of 
our Nation and secure the future of their children.
  Mr. HINOJOSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California 
(Mrs. Napolitano).
  Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Mr. Speaker, one of the most important keys to 
success to Americans is our education. That is why it is one of the top 
concerns in the Latino community and a high priority in the Unified 
Democratic Agenda.
  We heard our youth requires increased literacy and more education 
plus enhanced technological skills. My District in southeastern Los 
Angeles County is absolutely no stranger to high dropout rates, and I 
discussed this with all of my school districts. These students leave 
school and are unable to be good, productive citizens in our area.
  There are many types of approaches that the people in my district 
have come up with to fight the dropout rate and improve education. 
However, this does not mean that we in Congress and the Federal 
Government do not have a responsibility to work with them.
  There are many types of approaches to fight these dropout rates that 
we hope to be able to, together, fight for. That is why we need to have 
more teachers, school modernization, funding for alternative programs 
that help keep our next generations of Americans in school.
  Mr. Speaker, one of the most important keys to success in America is 
education. That is why education is one of the top concerns in the 
Latino community and a high priority in the Unified Democratic Agenda.
  To succeed in today's economy, our youth require increased literacy, 
more education and enhanced technological skills. But our schools are 
overcrowded and need to be equipped with the latest technology; 
teachers need better training; and we need to address the unacceptably 
high Latino drop-out rate.
  Thirty percent of Latinos 16 to 24 years old have dropped-out of 
school. The number for African Americans is 13 percent and for non-
Hispanic whites it is 7 percent. Among Latinos with limited English 
proficiency, about 50 percent have dropped out.
  My district, in southeastern Los Angeles County, is unfortunately no 
stranger to high drop-out rates. Just a few weeks ago, I was discussing 
this very issue with an administrator at Bell Gardens High School, 
which serves the East Los Angeles and Montebello communities in my 
district.
  At Bell Gardens High School, they have another problem in addition to 
the traditional drop-out rate as we know it. They have a very high 
transiency rate--about 30 percent. These are students who leave school 
and then come back several months or a year later. Their education is 
interrupted and they have difficulty readjusting to the educational 
program, which makes them even more likely to leave school again.
  Local teachers and school officials have been tackling the drop-out 
and transiency problems in multiple approaches. One is to increase 
parent involvement in their children's education, so that the learning 
experience at school is reinforced at home.
  Another approach is to improve libraries. There seems to be a 
correlation between the size and quality of libraries and the ability 
to capture students' interest and keep them engaged in the educational 
process.
  A third approach is the Pathways program, which gears students toward 
a specific career path. This program has been successful at making high 
school education more relevant to the lives of students who might 
otherwise not see the necessity of staying in school. When they can 
link each of their classes to a future job, school suddenly becomes a 
much higher priority for them.
  For those students who are living adult lives, either because they 
are parents themselves or they have to work full-time hours to support 
their parents and siblings, Bell Gardens High School has implemented 
``alternative programs.'' These are flexible educational programs 
designed to fit the schedules and demands of these students' lives.
  These are the types of approaches that people in my district have 
come up with to fight the drop-out rate and improve education. Let us 
not mislead ourselves into thinking that all the solutions to our 
schools' problems can be found here in Washington. Excellent ideas are 
developed in the local schools in our districts.
  However, this does not mean that there is no role for Congress and 
the federal government. It is our responsibility, as servants of the 
people, to ensure that local schools have the resources they need so 
that special programs, such as those at Bell Gardens High School, 
succeed. That is why we need to fight for more teachers, school 
modernization, and funding for alternative programs that help keep our 
next generation of Americans in school.
  Mr. HINOJOSA. Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to discuss 
an important, brand-new education program called ``Gear Up.''
  Two weeks ago, I hosted an information workshop in my south Texas 
congressional district to spread the word

[[Page 6312]]

to our local teachers, colleges, superintendents and school board 
members about what a difference the Gear Up program can make in the 
lives of our junior high school students.
  This exciting new initiative is designed to prepare underprivileged 
students for college. Gear Up is a competitive grant program and 
supports early college awareness activities at both the local and the 
State level.
  Specifically, this initiative will award multiyear grants to locally 
designed partnerships between colleges and high-poverty middle schools 
plus at least two other partners, such as community organizations, 
businesses, religious groups, State education agencies, parent groups 
or nonprofit organizations, to increase the number of students going to 
college among the low-income youth.
  Gear Up partnerships will be based on the following proven 
strategies: working with a whole grade level of students in order to 
raise the expectations for all students; starting with sixth or seventh 
grade students and continuing through high school graduation with 
comprehensive services, including mentoring, tutoring, counseling, and 
other activities such as after-school programs, summer academic 
enrichment programs, as well as college visits; promoting rigorous 
academic coursework based on college entrance requirements; informing 
students and parents about college options and financial aid, and 
providing students with a 21st century scholar certificate--an early 
notification of their eligibility for financial aid.
  Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge and encourage all local educational 
agencies to get involved in applying for this important grant. It is my 
firm belief that mentoring programs such as Gear Up can make all the 
difference in the lives of our middle school students.
  A mentor may be the person who makes the difference by providing a 
role model for positive behaviors, like studying hard and staying away 
from trouble, by helping with academic work, by encouraging the student 
to take the right college-preparatory courses, or by providing extra 
moral support and encouragement.
  We have a fantastic opportunity to help our local students--their 
future success depends on our leadership now. They fail if we fail to 
live up to our responsibility to ensure them the strongest chances for 
academic success.
  Mr. Speaker, expanding after-school opportunities is a top 
legislative priority for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
  Our President is committed to triple funding for the 21st Century 
Learning Center Program, which supports the creation and expansion of 
after-school and summer school programs throughout the country.
  Experts agree that school-age children who are unsupervised during 
the hours after school are far more likely to use alcohol, drugs, and 
tobacco, commit crimes, receive poor grades, and drop out of school 
than those who are involved in supervised, constructive activities.
  The program increases the supply of after-school care in a cost-
effective manner, primarily by funding programs that use public school 
facilities and existing resources.
  In awarding these new funds, the education department will give 
priority to school districts that are ending social promotion by 
requiring that students meet academic standards in order to move to the 
next grade.
  The President's budget includes $600 million in fiscal year 2000 to 
help roughly 1.1 million children each year participate in after-school 
and summer school programs.
  I have visited many of the schools in my congressional district. I 
have listened to teachers, principals, supt's, and schoolboard members. 
I have suggested they try converting schools to ``After School 
Community Centers.'' After school snacks, tutoring, mentoring, 
homework, organized sports, theatre, number sense.
  I strongly support funding for this program and urge all my 
colleagues to do the same.

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