Lawmakers compromise on Bush education measure

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — In a breakthrough for President Bush’s education bill, key lawmakers disclosed tentative compromises Tuesday on two key sticking points, one approving annual math and reading tests for millions of students and the other loosening strings on billions of dollars in federal funds.

As described in a summary circulating among Republicans in Congress, the draft agreement also would reduce the number of federal education programs from the current 55 to 45. Additionally, economically disadvantaged students in failing schools would be allowed to use federal funds for private tutoring, summer school and other similar programs.

The draft compromise was the result of negotiations among Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass, and Judd Gregg, R-N.H., Reps. John Boehner, R-Ohio, and George Miller, D-Calif., lawmakers involved in writing the final details of the education bill.

Under the proposed compromise, the federal National Assessment of Educational Progress test for reading and math would be administered to a sample of fourth- and eighth-grade students in each state every other year. The results would be used to verify the results of the statewide assessments all students would take, the GOP summary says.

No federal rewards or sanctions would be based on the test, according to the document, and states "can change their state standards without first obtaining permission or approval from the federal government."

Rewards and sanctions would be based on state-designed tests administered annually to students in grades three through eight.

The compromise on flexibility in federal funding is also a hybrid of the House and Senate versions.

All states and local school districts would be permitted to shift federal aid among a specified range of programs. Except for so-called Title I money, which is targeted at economically disadvantaged students, states and local school districts would decide to allocate up to 50 percent of their funding to suit their needs. "Decisions are left entirely to state and local school officials and do not require the approval" of the Education Department, according to the GOP summary.

Additionally, seven states and 150 local school districts would be chosen to participate in demonstration projects granting "additional flexibility in the use of federal funds," according to the summary.