Education bill clears Senate, president says he will sign it

The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — Congress on Tuesday gave final approval to landmark education legislation that would use federal aid as leverage to force improvements in low-performing schools and assure more help for needy students.

The bill, championed by President Bush and supported by most Democrats, was approved by the Senate, 87 to 10, only a week after the House gave it overwhelming bipartisan support. Washington Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, both Democrats, voted for the measure.

Bush, who made the issue a dominant feature of his campaign and a top priority for his first year in office, hailed passage of the bill and said he will sign it early next year.

The legislation, which many regard as the most far-reaching federal school measure since passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1965, would require state-administered testing of every student in grades three through eight in reading and mathematics, along with national testing of a smaller sample, to provide a benchmark for assessing a school’s performance. States would also have to measure progress of various subgroups, including minority and poor children.

States would have to establish a minimum level of proficiency and make steady progress in bringing students up to that level within 12 years. Failing schools would get federal help to improve, but continued failure would invite sanctions, including replacement of staff, revamping of curriculum or conversion to charter schools.

Children in lagging schools would be eligible for an array of assistance, including federal aid for tutoring, summer school programs or transportation to another public school.

But in one conspicuous setback for Bush, Congress made clear early in the process that it would not approve his proposal for vouchers to help children pay tuition at private and parochial schools.

The bill also seeks to have all children reading by the third grade and qualified teachers in every classroom. Funding for schools with disadvantaged students was increased. But, overall, states and local school districts would have more flexibility in spending federal dollars.

The bill authorizes $26.5 billion in federal spending on elementary and secondary education for fiscal 2002 — $4 billion more than Bush requested, $6 billion less than Democrats wanted and $8 billion more than last year’s spending level. An appropriations bill working its way through Congress provides about $22 billion, according to a Senate source.

But some senators, many of whom also wanted to lock in $2.5 billion a year to meet an earlier commitment to fund 40 percent of special education costs, complained that the bill did not authorize enough spending to assure its success.