Congressional Record, Volume 147 Issue 56 (Monday, April 30, 2001)

[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 56 (Monday, April 30, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4021-S4025]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

SAVING OUR SCHOOLS: EDUCATION REFORM IN AMERICA

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, the issue before us now, education reform
in our elementary and secondary public schools, is certainly one of the
most important issues facing our Nation. Education is something about
which we all care passionately. I have a deep personal interest in
education as a Ohioan and especially as a parent of eight children and
also now the grandparent of six. I believe that a quality education for
a child today is the key to that child's quality of life in the future.
As parents and grandparents and citizens of our States and communities,
we have an obligation to ensure that all children receive a solid
education.
Failing to properly educate our children puts them at risk. As
President John Kennedy once said: ``A child miseducated is a child
lost.'' That is a child lost to ignorance. A child lost to drugs,
alcohol, or violence. A child lost to poverty and apathy.
As we debate reform of our schools, I believe it is vital that we
look at exactly where we are as a society and how this is affecting our
public education system. Our society, as I see it, is divided along
economic and educational lines. This division is nothing new. Scholars
and sociologists have been warning us for years that this is where our
Nation was heading, particularly if we did not properly educate our
children.
Unfortunately, we did not heed the warnings, and as a result, our
Nation today is a nation split into two Americas: One where children
get educated, and one where they do not. This gap in educational
knowledge and the gap in economic standing is entrenching thousands
upon thousands of children into an underclass and into futures filled
with poverty and little hope and little opportunity.
That is exactly what is happening in my home State of Ohio and,
tragically, what is happening across our country. Ohio generally is a
microcosm of what we see in the country. When we look at this growing
gap, the development of the two Americas, what we see in Ohio is also
what we see in our Nation.
In Ohio, growing income and educational disparities are creating our
very own permanent underclass, especially in Ohio inner cities and in
Appalachia.
What we see in Ohio, if I can take the Presiding Officer and Members
of the Senate to Ohio, is something we see in many States. Most of Ohio
is doing very well economically and doing well educationally. The
children have a great future.
When we look across Ohio, we see two areas where that is not taking
place, where the children are not being educated as well as we would
like and where the income level shows that disparity. One place is in
Appalachia. There are 20 or 25 counties in Ohio that are Appalachian
counties. The other area is in our core cities. Call them the inner
cities. Call them the core cities. Either way, this is where we face
most of our challenges.
We cannot underestimate or understate this problem. It is a problem
that is not unique to Ohio. Rather, it is a huge societal problem,
which is pushing society farther and farther apart, not closer and
closer together. It is a problem we must address.
How do we do that? How do we enable children in the underclass to
rise above their circumstances, those circumstances which are beyond
their control? How do we bring about equality and opportunity so each
child has a chance to lead a full, meaningful, productive life as an
adult?

I believe the best way we can get to these children before we lose
them is through education. Horace Mann, a former president of Antioch
College in Yellow Springs, OH--a community where my wife and I grew
up--who is known as the father of public education, once said:

[[Page S4022]]

Education, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the
great equalizer, the great equalizer of the conditions of man
--the balance-wheel of the social machinery.

This is exactly what education can and should do. It should provide
all children, regardless of their economic circumstances or family
backgrounds, with the tools they need to make it as adults in our
society, with the tools necessary to rise above individual situations
of poverty and instability, individual situations of hopelessness and
despair.
As my colleagues in the Senate know, today's educational system is
not always meeting this goal. Do not get me wrong. I am not blaming the
schools for all of society's ills. Rather, I am suggesting that we as a
society are failing to use the power and the potential of our schools
to the maximum extent to help give our children the futures they really
deserve. No matter where a child lives, whether in Portsmouth, OH, or
New York City, every one of the 1.8 million children in the Ohio public
school system and every one of the nearly 47 million children in public
schools nationwide, deserves the opportunity to learn and to become
educated.
Let's face it; our schools have our children in their custody 7 or 8
hours a day, 5 days a week. That is not a lot of time, but it is time
our schools and our country simply cannot afford to waste. A line from
a 1970 song says ``your dreams were your ticket out.'' For all too many
children, children living in poverty and in broken homes, dreams alone
are not enough. For those children, a dream and a solid education is
their ticket out.
This is not a new concept. Historically, our schools have been the
best opportunity for children to move out, to move up, to advance, to
change their lives. Education has built our Nation. We are truly a
nation of immigrants, immigrants who, because of public schools,
escaped ignorance, illiteracy, and lives of poverty. A strong public
education tradition in this country kept entire generations from being
marginalized and left behind. For them, education was their ticket
out--their ticket out of despair and toward opportunity.
When education is not working to give our kids the tools they need to
move ahead in life, those children suffer. Many of them, for example,
don't get their high school diplomas. Look at some of the class of 2000
graduation rates for my home State of Ohio; look at urban centers. In
Akron, OH, 72 percent of the city's high school children graduated last
year. That is actually a high rate for an urban area. In Toledo, only
67 percent graduated. In Columbus, it was only 62 percent; Youngstown,
59 percent; Dayton, 57 percent; Canton, 53 percent; Cincinnati, 51
percent; and in Cleveland, only 34 percent of the students who started
high school actually finished.
Yes, that is right. Only one-third of the students in Cleveland, OH,
graduated. Two-thirds did not.
Before anyone becomes too complacent or thinks maybe they don't have
this problem in their States, let me remind the Members of the Senate
that these statistics are not unusual nor only for the State of Ohio.
They are typical of urban centers and urban areas. My guess is that if
we look at the other major cities in this country we will find similar,
disturbing statistics.

There is something wrong when we see statistics such as this. There
is something wrong in Ohio and this country when that many children are
not graduating. There is also something wrong in this country when
nearly one-third of college freshman must take remedial courses before
they can begin regular college level course work.
There is something wrong in this country when one-third of fourth
graders cannot read. The National Assessment of Educational Progress
tested 8,000, fourth graders across the country for reading skills and
ranks them according to four levels of achievement: advanced,
proficient, basic, and below basic. Tragically, 37 percent of those
tested scored below basic. In other words, 37 percent of those children
basically could not read. It gets even worse when you break the ``below
basic'' group into categories. Sixty-three percent of African American
fourth graders came into the category, 58 percent Hispanic, 47 percent
of urban students, and 60 percent of poor children. All of them scored
below basic, meaning they simply cannot read in the fourth grade.
I also wonder about another statistic. Nearly three out of four
teenagers today attend a high school with an enrollment of more than
1,000 students. I repeat, three-fourths of teenagers today attend high
schools with enrollments topping 1,000 students. I worry about that. I
worry about students in such big schools where it is too easy, many
times, to get lost. I think we need to look at that.
Where do we go from here? How do we go about changing our societal
mindset and our perceptions and our negligence in this country? The
first thing we need to do is recognize that the answers lie mainly in
the hands of parents, in our local communities, among our local school
boards, and among our State and local governments--not in Washington.
Nevertheless, Congress has a role to play, although a small one, in
prioritizing or directing our limited Federal dollars where they can
best help disadvantaged students in disadvantaged districts.
I believe the best place to begin on the Federal level is by
restoring accountability and achievement with the single most important
resource in the classroom--the teacher. When I think about teachers, I
think about something else that Horace Mann once said: ``Teaching is
the most difficult of all arts and the most profound of all sciences.''
I can certainly attest to that. As a college senior at Miami
University in Oxford, OH, I spent 4\1/2\ months student teaching at
Princeton High School, a high school north of the city of Cincinnati.
That was tough work. Teaching is tough. Teaching was one of the hardest
things I have ever done in my life. It was then I learned, firsthand
for the first time, that Ohio and America's teachers don't get the
respect, the admiration, nor the salaries they deserve. There is
something wrong with that. There is something wrong with a system and a
society that doesn't value the teaching profession as highly as other
professions. Teachers, after all, shape lives. A good teacher has the
power to fundamentally change the course of a child's life.
I am sure each one of us in the Senate can recall at least one great
teacher who inspired us, who motivated us, who, yes, changed our lives.
These teachers guided us then, and they continue to influence us today.
I can recall some of my teachers. I can still hear my senior high
school teacher, Mrs. Kappell. Whenever I write a letter or whenever I
try to compose a speech, I can hear her talking to me, telling me what
to do, and many times, what not to do.
I can hear my junior high school teacher in American history, Mr.
Wingard, now Dr. Wingard, as he talked about that great American story
of American history.
Teachers do change our lives, Mr. President. They do make a
difference. As a parent, I also know how important it is for children
to have good teachers, for our children to enjoy being in the classroom
and to look forward to going to school each day. When they don't have
quality teachers, our children suffer for a whole year.
I am sure other parents have this experience: There is nothing better
than to find out that your child has a great teacher; to listen to that
child, when that child comes home from school, talk about what the
teacher said; to hear the excitement a teacher can inspire about a
particular subject, whether it is science or American government or
American history or literature. There is nothing more important for a
child, other than parents, than to have a good teacher.
I have also had the experience, not often but it is an experience
most of us have had as parents, of our child having a teacher who
wasn't that good. We all know how long 9 months can seem for the whole
family.
It is so important for our kids that we attract the smartest and most
dedicated in our society to the profession of teaching. We had better
move fast. The National Center for Educational Statistics predicts that
in the next decade we will have to hire 1.7 million to 2.7 million new
teachers just to replace

[[Page S4023]]

those who retire or leave the profession. While this exodus of teachers
is certainly a daunting challenge and a very real pending problem, it
is also an enormous opportunity. It is the single greatest opportunity
for us, as parents and as community members, to reshape the next decade
of education in America.
When I think about this opportunity and I think about how we can
shape education to the greatest benefit of our children, I am reminded
of something my own high school principal, Mr. Malone, once told me. We
were getting ready to go into a new high school building. We were part
of the baby-boom generation, so they were always building new buildings
for us. Mr. Malone came into our class and he said, ``We are going to
go into this new high school next week. We are so proud of it and so
happy about it. But I want you to remember one thing. I want you always
to remember this: In education, there are only two things that really
matter. One is the student who wants to learn and the other is a good
teacher. Everything else is sort of icing on the cake.'' What Mr.
Malone said 35 years ago is still true today.
Recently I had the privilege of meeting with several teachers and
administrators and students from two of Ohio's schools of education--
Marietta College and Ohio University. During those meetings, we
discussed many of the issues today's teachers are facing and the
challenges that await the future generation of teachers. Those meetings
reaffirmed my belief that, when you get right down to it, good teachers
are second only to good parents in helping children learn. So any
effort to restore confidence and improve quality in education must
begin with a national recommitment to teaching as a profession.
We are doing just that with the education reform bill before us.
Through the language I have written into this bill, we can expand,
enhance, and encourage support for teachers all across America.
First, I have written a provision that will provide support for
people in other professions seeking a second career as a teacher. We
need to make it easier to recruit future teachers from the military,
from industry, and from research institutions. These are people with
established careers and real-world life experiences. They have a great
deal to give our students in the classroom.

But, getting this kind of talent into the classroom is easier said
than done. For example, if Albert Einstein were alive today and wanted
to teach a high school physics class, requirements in some States would
keep him from even setting foot in a classroom. That, I think, is just
absurd. My provision would allow the use of Federal funds for
alternative teacher certification programs. This would allow States to
create and expand different types of alternative certification efforts.
Second, I have written a provision to provide support for teachers
seeking to improve subject knowledge or classroom skills. This language
that we have written helps ensure that our teachers have access to
training academies, where they can sharpen and improve their skills as
teachers. There is just such a facility in Cincinnati called the
Mayerson Academy. Teachers can go there to learn from experienced
educators, seasoned educators who can help them and guide them to
become stronger teachers in the classroom. Plans are already underway
for a similar training academy in Dayton, OH.
No doubt, some of this support should be available to teachers in
every community in our country. It is not enough to train our teachers
and then just send them out to the classrooms. We have to provide them
with the opportunity to constantly improve their skills. It is a
science. It is an art. It is both. It is a tough business, and we need
to give them the help, the mentoring, and the expertise they need to
continue advancing throughout their careers.
The Mayerson Academy was put together by the business community in
Cincinnati in cooperation with the teachers unions and in cooperation
with the public schools. It is the right way to go. It is the right
thing to do.
Third, I have written a provision to provide support for teachers
seeking new ways to teach math and science, history, or English. My
language expands the mission of the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse,
which is a national center located at Ohio State University that
provides teachers with the best teacher training and curriculum
materials in the subjects of math and science. This clearinghouse
screens, evaluates, and distributes the multiple training and course
materials currently available and makes it easier for teachers to
quickly and efficiently access materials for the classrooms. My
provision expands the clearinghouse's mission beyond just math and
science to now include, under this language, subjects such as history
and English.
Finally, I have written a provision to provide support for new
teachers from experienced teachers who will serve as mentors. Many of
our most experienced, most senior, most knowledgeable teachers are,
unfortunately, about to retire. It is vital that we do not lose their
expertise before it is too late. We can utilize their skills through
mentoring programs. My provision allows the use of Federal funds for
new and existing teacher mentoring programs.
I also believe we need to prioritize Federal funding to recruit and
retain good teachers in our high-need urban and rural school districts.
One way to do this is by recruiting teachers from the military through
the Troops to Teachers Program. Last year we worked to save this
program, and thank Heaven we saved it. We fully intend to do the same
this year.
Troops to Teachers assists retiring military personnel in gaining the
State certification necessary to teach. Furthermore, Troops to Teachers
helps broaden the makeup and skills of our current teacher pool.
Finally, it brings the best teachers to the schools and the children
who need them the most.
The fact is, the Troops to Teachers Program has been an unbelievable
success. We need to recruit more minorities to go into education. We
need to have more teachers who have a background in math and science.
And, we need to recruit more men into teaching in our primary schools.
Troops to teachers brings minorities and men and those with a
background in math and science into the classroom. This is a program
that works. It is a program that makes a difference.
Let me say how delighted I was to see that the First Lady of our
country endorsed this program. She has said that we should be putting
more money in the program and has been a very strong advocate for that.
We can also do much more to encourage good teachers to go into the
classrooms that need them most. Specifically, we can pursue efforts
involving National Board certified teachers.
You may ask: ``What exactly is a National Board Certified teacher?''
Well, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is an
extremely rigorous certification program that identifies exceptional
classroom educators. This certification is a difficult, challenging,
year-long process that measures a teacher's knowledge of subject matter
and, more importantly, his or her ability to teach that material to
students. Last year, 331 teachers were certified in my home State of
Ohio by the National Board, increasing the State's total to 924
educators. I am happy to say it is the third highest of any State in
the Union. These teachers are some of our best educators, and we need
to encourage them to teach in our most needy schools. That is why I
have been working with the Board to urge them to prioritize their
federal funding for teachers who teach in, or are willing to teach in
low-income school districts. I am pleased to report that the Board has
agreed to make this a policy. I congratulate them for it.
In the future, Mr. President, we also need to increase the federal
government's funding for an important program for disabled students--
the Individuals with Disabilities Act. This worthwhile federal program
is one of the largest underfunded mandates on our local schools.
Many of my colleagues have taken time to come to the floor in the
last few weeks to talk about this. I congratulate them for drawing
attention to this problem.
We need to fully fund the federal government's commitment to this
program, as it helps give teachers the ability to teach disabled
students without detracting from the education of other students.
Finally, we can encourage teachers to teach in low-income districts--
the

[[Page S4024]]

very districts where children need them most--by re-examining the
current student loan forgiveness programs. This is an issue that I
intend to pursue in future legislative initiatives.
I think there is more we can do. We need to look at this program and
figure out what we have to do in loan forgiveness to attract students
to become teachers and to go to our Appalachian counties and our inner
cities, or wherever good teachers are needed.
Now, while I strongly believe that the teacher is the most important
resource in the classroom, there are other issues in education that we
need to address, like the program of drugs and violence in our schools.
I have fought for--and will continue fighting--to improve the $925
million Safe and Drug Free Schools Program. This vital program, which I
have incorporated into the ESEA bill, provides funds to over 97 percent
of school districts nationwide to keep our schools safe and drug-free.
The reality is that for many schools this is the only money they get,
or the only money that they set aside, to deal with our drug problem.
It is vital that we continue to fund this program.
We need this program because a child threatened by drugs and violence
is not be able to learn, and a teacher afraid to stand in front of the
classroom is unable to teach. And that--that is a situation we should
never, ever have in our schools. I hope to say more about this very
important program as the Floor debate unfolds.
So I believe it is clear that the government can make a difference in
restoring quality and equality to education. On a federal level and on
a state level, the government can help target programs to those
children in those districts most in need. However, the whole realm of
education is so big and so vital and so all-encompassing that it is
something we cannot leave to the government, alone, to fix.
Parents and families and communities must take an active role in
reforming our schools and in helping our best teachers stay in our
children's classrooms.
I think it is important that every capable American become involved.
Each one of us needs to volunteer directly in the classroom and to
participate in some way in school activities. Parents need to go into
their children's schools and help the teachers, or volunteer to read to
the classes, or help teach math or science, or history, or literature.
As I said, I talked to several teachers in Ohio recently. They told
me about how exciting it was to have senior citizens come into their
classrooms and read to students on a one-on-one basis; or to help a
student read; or to take a turn with the senior reading one page and
the child reading another page. These teachers told me that it was not
just the senior citizen teaching and a student learning, although that
certainly occurred. But, it was the bonding and the relationship that
developed. It was that student knew someone cared about him or her.
That was just as important, or in many respects, it was more important.
I think each one of us can do something in our schools. Whether we
have schoolchildren in schools or not, each one of us, in some way, can
make a difference.
It is up to us to change our culture of complacency. It is up to us
to help close the economic and educational gaps in our society.
Ultimately, education reform and the paradigm shifts that go along
with it are a journey toward the horizon--not a destination, but a
never-ending, forward-leading journey toward the future. So, as we move
toward that horizon--as we move ahead for the sake of our children--we
need to get back to basics--good teachers, safe and drug-free schools,
and parental and community involvement in the schools.
I am confident that we will go forth in the days ahead to give
children the tools they need for a bright and promising future.
I am confident that we will go forth to restore quality and community
in our system of education.
We will go forth and establish a new way of thinking--a way of
thinking that challenges and changes the current culture of education
in America.
We will go forth and restore education's ability to ``equalize,'' as
Horace Mann suggested.
And, as we do go forth toward that horizon--toward our future--we
should remember something Abraham Lincoln once said:

A child is a person who is going to carry on what you have
started. He is going to sit where you are sitting and when
you are gone attend to those things which you think are
important. He will assume control over your cities, states,
and nations. He is going to move in and take over your
churches, schools, universities, and corporations. The fate
of humanity is in his hands.

That sentiment is as true today as it was when Abraham Lincoln said
it.
We cannot rest--we must not rest--until every child has teachers who
are qualified to teach and schools that are safe, drug-free learning
environments.
Our children's future and the future America--hang in the balance.
I thank the Chair and yield the Floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Wyoming is
recognized.
Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, we are now in morning business, I believe.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Until 3 o'clock.
Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 5
minutes, and then yield to my friend from Tennessee.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I thank my friend from Ohio for his very
excellent comments about education. There is certainly nothing more
important in this country than education. There is nothing more
important to the President, and nothing more important to this Congress
and to the people of the country than to do something to strengthen
education. Hopefully, we are on the verge of moving into that area. We
have talked about it now for a good long time. It has been on the
agenda and we are ready to move on it. Hopefully, we can do that very
quickly.
I think the conversation and the dispute has been somewhat about the
notion of funding. I understand that. Obviously, funding is vital to
education.
I just came from Casper, WY. One of the board members wrote in our
local paper about funding and how important it is. But at the same time
there are other issues. Funding alone does not make a successful
education program. I feel very strongly about that.
We have to have accountability. We have to have choices. We have to
have some measurement of productivity in order to have an education
program and the kind that we want.
I am hopeful our friends on the other side of the aisle will not
continue to hold up this matter. I think we ought to get on with it.
Is there disagreement on some issues? Of course. There will always
be. But there is agreement on our goal. And our goal is to strengthen
education in this country. We are not going to do it if we continue to
hold off and be unwilling to move forward. I hope we do that.
Republicans have a strong agenda: returning control to parents,
giving them charter schools, giving them the opportunity, if the school
is not performing, to move their child to another public school,
sending dollars to the classroom, giving families greater education
choice, supporting exceptional teachers, and focusing on basic
education. I think these are the areas that are so important.
The delivery of these programs, of course, is quite different,
whether you are in Chugwater, WY, or Cincinnati, OH. So there has to be
flexibility that is left to the people in local leadership positions to
decide how they can best use those dollars. I think the one-size-fits-
all approach does not work.
Underlying this education debate is a basic philosophical difference.
Some folks do not like the idea of letting local people make the
decisions. We went through that for almost 8 years, where Washington
had to decide what the Federal money was going to be used for. Now we
are in a position where we do not need to do that. We do not need the
education bureaucracy calling all the shots. It is local people--not
the Federal bureaucrats--who know what needs to be done.
Then how do you have accountability? We do that by having some kind
of testing, a measurement of progress, so kids in Wyoming who want to
move to California when they are older have a basic education that will
allow them to compete because they have had a productive education.

[[Page S4025]]

I think the important thing to remember, too, is that since
Republicans took control of the Congress in 1995, Federal education
spending has exploded. This President is asking for more money for
education than the previous President.
So we need to do those things. This is a direction in which we need
to head. We need to do it now. I am getting a little exasperated, as
many Members are, that we cannot seem to move forward. We were prepared
last week to talk about this. We did not even get a chance to get to
it. So we need to produce a bipartisan education proposal which
accomplishes the goals of increasing accountability for student
performance, supporting programs that work, reducing bureaucracy,
increasing flexibility, and empowering parents. By focusing on
solutions rather than rhetoric, we will be able to accomplish those
things.
Mr. President, I yield the floor to my friend from Tennessee.
Several Senators addressed the Chair.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Tennessee.
Mr. WELLSTONE. Will my colleague from Tennessee yield for 10 seconds?
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Does the Senator yield?
Mr. FRIST. The Senator yields.
Mr. WELLSTONE. I do not think there is any order. My colleague from
Tennessee was here first. I ask unanimous consent that I follow the
Senator from Tennessee in the order of debate.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
The Senator from Tennessee.
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, are we in morning business?
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. We were until 3 o'clock. We are now
past that time.

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