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Maple River Education Coalition PAC
105 Peavey Rd, St 116 
Chaska, MN  55318 
952-361-4931
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October 13, 2001

The Latest on HR1

The federal House of Representatives budget for fiscal year 2002 passed the full House this Thursday, October 11^th, identifying how much money the House agrees to allocate for federal education spending. The budget is not the federal education legislation (HR1). Approval of the budget does, however, represent one important step along the way, bringing passage of HR1 (No Child Left Behind) closer.

The House budget bill, HR3061, allocates $49.2 billion for federal education spending. Of that money, $23 billion is for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also called "No Child Left Behind," or HR1. The $23 billion is in line with the amount requested by the House for its version of the ESEA, but it exceeds the amount requested by President Bush by $4.7 billion. $23 billion is $8 billion below the amount the Senate is asking for in its own version of the ESEA (S1).

Also included in the federal budget legislation is $1 billion more funding for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA is federal money for special education.

QUESTIONS RAISED ABOUT HR1

In a letter of October 5^th to federal House and Senate leadership, the National Governors Association calls on Congress to slow down:

"Governors recognize that there are many remaining questions, including how testing, adequate yearly progress (AYP), funding, and funding triggers will be addressed. As policymakers responsible for education programs in states, the nation's Governors continue to be deeply concerned about these and other issues and strongly urge that you share prospective education proposals once they become available. Without conference negotiations yielding results that are workable and effective for states, successful education reform is not achievable." (See the letter)

In addition to that, the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) has withdrawn its support for passage of HR1/S1. In a letter dated September 29^th, NCSL states:

"After careful review, we have reluctantly come to the conclusion that critical parts of both S1 and HR1 are seriously and perhaps irreparably flawed." (See the letter)

However, in spite of the pleas from state legislatures and governors, the 39 House and Senate education conferees on HR1/S1 reportedly met with President Bush on Friday, promising to finish the education bill before the year's ended.

TWO ITEMS HOTLY CONTESTED

1. The Graham-Tiahrt amendment does the following:

• It guarantees parental access to the curriculum their children will be taught, including textbooks, audio/visual materials, manuals, films, and supplementary materials.
• It prohibits surveys pertaining to personal information without parental consent. It prohibits medical, psychological, or psychiatric examinations, testing or treatment at schools without parental consent.

Conferees are under considerable pressure to remove Graham-Tiahrt language from the bill. This language passed the House, but it did not pass the Senate. (See our update)

2. The House language allows states to choose their own national test. The Senate language requires all states to use the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to hold them accountable to the national curriculum.

Conferees are under great pressure to force all states to use the NAEP, thereby creating a single federal education test. (See our update for a discussion of the national curriculum.)

It goes without saying that this is a profound violation of the U.S. Constitution.   The 10th Amendment forbids the federal government from involving itself in education.

The White House switchboard is: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202 456-2461

Representative John Boehner is Co-Chairman of the conference committee: 202-225-6205

REPORT ON INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACT:

In an October 4^th hearing, it was reported that IDEA has succeeded in over-identifying minorities as being "disabled". This ought to be cause for great concern. Over diagnosis as "learning-disabled" has raised alarms across the country for all students, especially minorities. Access to special education money for learning-disabled raises the incentives of schools to over-identify students who often require simple remediation in one or more subjects.

Unfortunately, one recommendation for these concerns, screening for disabilities earlier, would only compound the problem of over- identifying. Diagnostic criteria are more difficult to apply to young children than to older children, because symptoms of a mental illness can be easily confused with changes in development.

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