[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 10 (Monday, March 15, 1999)]
[Page 412]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the Kennedy-Murray Amendment to Proposed Education 
Flexibility Partnership Legislation

March 11, 1999

    I have long supported the ed-flex concept, and I was pleased when 
the congressional leadership decided to take up this bill as one of its 
first matters of business. Today, however, the Senate used this bill to 
undermine one of our most important educational achievements--an 
initiative to hire 100,000 well-prepared teachers to reduce class size 
in the early grades to a national average of 18. The Senate not only 
voted down an amendment to ensure long-term funding for this initiative 
but passed an amendment that would allow local school districts to 
completely opt out of class size reduction. I will work hard for the 
elimination of this amendment in conference. We should be working 
together to make continued progress on obvious national needs such as 
reducing class size--not attempting to tear down the bipartisan work we 
did last year to address this problem.