EdAction
Maple River Education Coalition PAC
105 Peavey Rd, St 116 
Chaska, MN  55318 
952-361-4931
http://www.EdAction.org
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September 23, 2001

Federal Education Bill: Where Now?

According to Rep. John Boehner, co-chair of the conference committee working on the new federal education funding bill, the war against terrorism will not deter Congress from their work on education.

Others doubt there will be any resolution of the education bill before the end of the year. As one group puts it:

"Education will be taking a back seat to national security issues in Congress for some time. It is unclear when - or whether - work on ESEA will be finished before the end of the year."

Another advisor states, "In light of the attacks and the limited time left in the year, the conference committee may keep meeting, but I don't see all of the outstanding issues being resolved in the near future or in time to get both the House and the Senate to debate and vote on a conference report before the end of the year."

For our own part, the very best we could hope for at this time is that resolution of the education bill (HR1/S1) would be stalled until next year. A major slowdown buys us desperately needed time to let our office holders, various policy groups and the general public know the alarming pitfalls of this bill.

"Education reform" groups are remarkably misinformed about what HR1/S1 actually does. These are among the common misconceptions:

Myth #1: Goals 2000 is repealed in HR1/S1. (It is repealed in name only. Goals 2000 continues to provide the framework for all federal education funding. All Goals 2000 policies are continued and expanded in the new legislation.)

Myth #2: "Accountability" holds schools accountable for high academic achievement and objective knowledge. (The new "accountability" system is minimum competencies for all and inculcating a worldview that redefines our free constitutional form of government.)

Myth #3: "Local Control" is expanded. (HR1/S1 removes all meaningful control of parents and locally elected school boards, as well as of state legislatures in the major education policy issues.)

Myth #4: HR1/S1 establishes "high standards." (It is an incredibly dumbed-down curricular mandate.)

An article in last week's LA Times promotes HR1/S1 as an aggressive reading program. Other articles do the same.

The legislation, however, is one tiny part "reading program," and the rest of the bill is a continuation of the forced restructuring of our schools. It sets up a national test (or tests) that puts the federal government 100% in charge of imposing a single National Curriculum. Most citizens in America would be stunned to know what the National Curriculum is.

The federal government should slow down on this education bill and tend to the urgent work before them of defending and protecting our country.

EdAction - 105 Peavey Rd, Ste 116, Chaska, MN  55318 
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