Test nears for Bush school policy

Though the reality will look different from his campaign promises, the president is likely to prevail on overall direction.

By MARY JACOBY

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 16, 2001

WASHINGTON -- First came taxes. Now comes education, President Bush's other major domestic policy priority, which is set to take a star turn on Capitol Hill next week.

The Senate will begin debate on Bush's education plan when it returns from a two-week Easter break April 23.

Yet while the president's 10-year, $1.6-trillion tax-cut package sailed through the House and was pared down by the Senate only after a tough fight, several of the education reforms Bush talked about in the campaign are already twisting in the wind.

Private-school vouchers are dead. A proposal to lift the strings attached to federal education dollars by letting states decide how to use the money will likely be scaled back to a pilot program.

And some House conservatives are opposed to the centerpiece of his plan: uniform achievement testing in grades 3 through 8. The opponents argue that requiring a national test or its equivalent will weaken local school districts' control.

Yet despite these obstacles, it also appears likely that Bush will prevail in the larger philosophical battle with Democrats over the direction of education policy.

The Democratic position on education can generally be summed up as this: more money. They have decried Bush's 5.9 percent increase in education spending, to $44.5-billion for 2002, as woefully inadequate.

But Republicans, citing a persistent gap in test scores between low- and upper-income students, argue that throwing more money into programs that aren't working is not the answer.

Instead, Bush says, it makes more sense to reorganize those programs and target them toward the neediest students.

Bush made this point in a speech on education Thursday in Washington. He cited a recent U.S. Department of Education report that less than a third of fourth-graders are proficient in reading and that the gulf between the best and worst students is widening.

"We have spent $125-billion of Title 1 money over 25 years, money spent on low income students," Bush said, referring to the Education Department program for low-performing schools. "And if the truth be told, we have little to show for it."

Bush proposes spending an extra $1.2-billion on Title 1 programs next year, but he would concentrate new spending on the worst-performing schools.

Such plans have traditionally hit roadblocks in Congress because instead of spreading the money around to all kinds of school districts, a compromise that garners the most votes, it funnels money to schools where academic achievement has been low, which tend to be in urban districts represented by fewer lawmakers.

That could explain why Bush addresses this issue in language reminiscent of the fight for civil rights.

"America's schools are increasingly separate and equal. And that is unacceptable in our land," he said Thursday. "We must do more than tinker around the edges."

While much of the Senate debate next week will be over how much money to put into education, Bush's major emphasis on reordering existing programs appears on track.

"There are some incredibly refreshing elements of the Bush package that would change the way traditional education operates," said Jeanne Allen of the Center for Education Reform, a conservative-leaning think tank in Washington.

"In the past, just (adding) money has been discussed. Never has there been an attempt to change it so it works better, partly because they (Congress) have been scared that they will be challenged by the teachers' unions," Allen said.

Yet Jim Manley, a spokesman for Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, cautioned, "There is no final deal on this bill until we've reached agreement on significant increases in funding." Kennedy is the top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee.

It has irked Kennedy and other Democrats that Bush is promoting his education budget as an 11 percent increase in spending. A more accurate figure, one that even the Education Department acknowledges in a press release, is a 5.9 percent increase, Manley said.

The differences in the figures are rooted in complex accounting gimmicks and terms used by Congress. But whatever the number, "It's inadequate," said Ed Kealy, executive director of the Committee for Education Funding, a coalition of teachers' unions and other traditional educators' groups.

"The programs are being asked to do more for more kids with a minimal increase. It's going to be tough to leave no child behind with this level of funding," Kealy said, referring to Bush's oft-repeated campaign pledge.

Meanwhile, one area to watch next week will be the debate over special education spending.

Bush has proposed increasing funding for mentally and physically disabled students by nearly $1-billion, to $7.3-billion. Yet the Senate on April 6 passed a federal budget outline that includes a $2.6-billion increase.

In fact, the Senate called for a $2.6-billion increase every year for the next 10 years -- what would amount, all told, to $180-billion over 10 years.

The increase was demanded by Sen. James Jeffords, R-Vt., one of two Republicans who refused to vote for Bush's full 10-year, $1.6-trillion tax cut. With the Senate split 50-50 between the parties, Jeffords' defection meant Bush's full tax cut did not have the votes.

Instead, in large part because Jeffords wanted more money for special education programs, the Senate ended up scaling back the Bush tax cut by around $400-billion over 10 years.

The fate of the tax cut now hinges on a House-Senate conference committee. The House passed Bush's full tax cut.

In this conference committee, Bush hopes to restore his full tax cut. But it will be tricky: Jeffords is also chairman of the Senate Education Committee. He will insist on the full $180-billion for special education over 10 years, and he may have Bush over a barrel on this one.

On vouchers, at least, compromise seems to be taking shape. Senate negotiators have tentatively agreed to allow children in poor public schools to use taxpayer funds for private tutoring or to transfer to a better performing public school.

Taxpayer funds would not be available to pay for private school tuition, a concept Bush had championed on the campaign trail. Such vouchers are fiercely opposed by teachers' unions, and their allies on Capitol Hill have the votes to block them.

Both Democrats and Republicans also agree on a uniform, yearly testing plan to measure achievement. "But how much of a consequence there will be for not doing it remains to be seen," said Allen of the Center for Education Reform.

Other elements of the Bush plan include:

Consolidating several teacher-development programs into state grants for teacher quality improvement.

Adding $175-million to build or improve facilities for charter schools, public academies that offer enhanced programs and more flexibility in curriculum.

Eliminating a $1.2-billion program to fix dilapidated schools that had been a signature issue for Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun, an Illinois Democrat defeated in 1998.

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