Nevada schools eye OK of Bush program

Friday, June 15, 2001 | 11:05 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Thursday passed President Bush's education overhaul bill that could translate to changes for the Clark County School District, including new testing requirements and more federal money for poor students.

The bill, which seeks to use federal aid as a carrot to improve failing schools and includes major reading and student grant programs, was passed by a 91-8 vote. Sens. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Harry Reid, D-Nev., voted for it.

The legislation makes at least two notable changes that could mean more federal money for Nevada.

One provision requires that the federal government finally pay up to 40 percent of a school district's cost to educate students with disabilities. Congress in 1975 agreed to pay those costs as part of a sweeping special education law. But Congress has never paid more than 15 percent, less in some districts.

The Senate bill authorized $8.8 billion to districts nationwide to help reached the 40 percent goal.

The Senate also approved an amendment introduced by Ensign that would aid fast-growing districts.

The amendment requires the Education and Commerce departments to annually update the number of students in states who qualify for federal Title I money, which is used primarily for aides and reading programs for pupils from low-income families. Those numbers traditionally have not been regularly updated each year, which means fast-growing states such as Nevada have not gotten a fair share of federal money.

Nevada will get about $6 million more a year in Title I money, Ensign said.

"This helps Nevada like no other state," Ensign said.

The House passed a similar, but less expensive version of the education bill last month. A committee of House and Senate negotiators will iron out differences before Bush signs it into law.

The Senate bill would authorize $33 billion for kindergarten through 12th grade in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. The House bill costs about $24 billion. Bush wants to spend about $19 billion, only slightly above this year's level.

"This was a reform bill," said Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., in defending the higher spending. "We can't have reform without resources, and that's the next step."

Speaking today in Goteborg, Sweden, Bush noted the Senate's action. "It is a good piece of legislation that will reform public education in America," he said. "It's a meaningful, real reform."

During the brief celebration after the vote, Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said of the six-week debate: "The funding levels got out of control."

The measure brings several major changes to the federal system, foremost among them the requirement that schools annually test students in math and reading in grades three through eight and once in high school.

If scores don't improve, schools would be eligible for higher federal aid. But pupils at schools in which scores don't improve could use some federal money for tutoring or transportation to another public school.

Clark County schools use the TerraNova exam to test students in grades four, eight and 10. The scores are used to determine how well schools are performing.

The bill authorizes $2.8 billion in federal spending for testing, enough to develop and administer tests, Bush says. Nevada would get about $4.5 million in the first year for testing. Those figures are still subject to congressional negotiation.

Superintendent Carlos Garcia said he was concerned about the added cost. One advantage of more tests is that the district will be able to chart the progress of of a specific group of students from fourth through eighth grade, Garcia said.

"Every year in fourth grade, we obviously are getting a new group of students," Garcia said.

The bill also provides more money for charter schools and requires school districts to develop report cards that show a school's test scores compared to others locally and statewide. It provides nearly $5 billion over five years to improve students' reading skills, with a goal of making sure every youngster can read by third grade.

All schools would get more flexibility in their use of federal funds, while a small number of states and school districts could compete for a pilot program giving them even fewer restrictions.

The framework of the measure was fixed during weeks of negotiations involving the White House, Senate Republicans and Democrats led by Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts.

All sides gained concessions in some areas and gave them in others. The bill contains far more money than many Republicans favor, for example, and lacks the type of expansive flexibility that many GOP senators wanted for school districts around the country. On the other hand, Kennedy agreed to the pilot program known as Straight A's, which removes many federal strings from much of the money, to the discomfort of traditional Democratic allies, teacher unions.

Senate passage of the bill came after a bumpy, last-minute detour into the emotionally charged issue of the Boy Scouts and homosexuality.

On a vote of 51-49, the Senate approved a proposal by Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., to strip federal funding from any school district that discriminates against the Scouts or similar groups that "prohibit the acceptance of homosexuals." Ensign voted for it; Reid against.

Opponents countered by winning swift approval of an amendment by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., barring schools from denying access to any youth group, Boy Scouts included, on the basis of their views on sexual orientation.

The fight over the Scouts provided a noisy conclusion to weeks of generally cordial debate on the issue atop Bush's agenda.

Helms' amendment was triggered by last year's Supreme Court ruling that upheld a national Boy Scouts policy to ban gay members and leaders. He cited numerous examples in which local schools or school districts excluded Scouts from the use of facilities.

Helms said his amendment was meant to combat "the organized lesbians and homosexuals in this country of ours." Democrats angrily denounced it, saying it would bind the hands of school boards trying to juggle access and Scout sponsorship with their states' anti-discrimination laws.

Boxer said the Scouts already were treated as other groups are and added: "I believe this amendment is unnecessarily gratuitous. It is hurtful to a group of people. It divides us again in this country."

Sun staff writers

Benjamin Grove and Terry Webster contributed to this report.