[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Page 20967]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           EDUCATION FUNDING

  Mr. ALEXANDER. I wish to comment very briefly on education, which we 
are debating, and the Senator spoke eloquently about it. I was Governor 
of my State. I was U.S. Secretary of Education for awhile. The facts 
are basically these: Federal funding for education has been 
consistently up, under Democrats and under Republicans.
  It must be confusing to people who hear us debate in the Senate 
because it sounds as though we are reading off completely different 
history books. The fact is, it is up, and State funding is either down 
or level.
  It is important for teachers, principals, and others in their 
communities to know that the real pressure they are feeling is not from 
Federal dollars, which are up, but from State dollars, which are level 
or down. The Federal Government funds about 7 percent. Seven cents out 
of every dollar that goes for elementary and secondary education in 
America comes from the Congress. Ninety-three cents out of every dollar 
comes from the States or local government. So that is the real problem.
  The Congress recognized that this year by appropriating a large 
amount of money for the States. I think it was $20 billion that we sent 
to the States on a one-time basis. For Tennessee, it was about $400 
million. That is a lot of money for us. Our State used that, half of it 
in the rainy day fund and half of it in Medicaid. That took a little 
pressure off Medicaid. That helped education.
  So it is important for people to know that in all of this debate, 
Federal funding is up. I, for one, want to look at Leave No Child 
Behind this year and next year, its first 2 years of operation. I was 
not here when it passed. I was not here to vote for it as the Senator 
from Illinois said he did. If it turns out after a year or two of 
operation that it is indeed a federally unfunded mandate, then I am 
going to be one of those Senators who wants to add money to fix that 
problem.
  I spent a lot of time as a Governor saying do not send me a rule 
without money. I do not think it is good to leave the impression that 
somehow the Federal Government is not funding education. We only fund 7 
percent of elementary and secondary education, and that funding is up. 
It is the States that are having problems, and States have a variety of 
options for dealing with that.
  Many States have cut taxes over the last 10 years. That is a good 
policy if it can be done, but if it is done, it comes right out of 
education usually.

                          ____________________