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WASHINGTON – Members of the House and Senate New Democrat Coalition, led by Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT), today reintroduced their package to dramatically revamp federal education policy and refocus it on raising academic achievement for all students. New Democrats described the sweeping proposal as a real opportunity to break the education stalemate in Congress, and make substantial progress toward addressing our nation's educational challenges.
The Public Education Reinvestment, Reinvention and Responsibility Act (Three R's) was introduced by Lieberman and Evan Bayh (IN) in the last Congress and shares many key measures with the education proposal President Bush laid out in his campaign. Members of the New Democrat Coalition have rallied behind the Lieberman-Bayh bill and view it as the common ground from which bipartisan compromise on education reform will be successfully achieved this year.
"We as New Democrats welcome our new President's call for common ground on the critical issue of education," Lieberman said. "And in that spirit of cooperation, we are putting forward a progressive reform proposal that we believe could serve as the foundation for building a constructive consensus and ultimately a better future for our children."
"In today's global and information-based economy, the consequences of any of our children losing out on a quality education are far greater than ever before," said Bayh. "We cannot afford to squander the current window of opportunity for bipartisan progress on education and restore public faith in out public schools. Our bill is a starting point from which we intend to work with President Bush and both parties in Congress in order to refocus our national education priorities on outcomes rather than inputs and ensure that no child is left behind."
House New Democrat Coalition Co-Chair Rep. Cal Dooley (CA) added, "New Democrats in the House and Senate have a history of forging middle-ground, common sense solutions to our nation's problem, and this joint House-Senate Three R's plan is a centrist approach to preparing our children for the future. With President Bush so committed to education reform, Three R's will be the vehicle for refocusing our federal commitment to education in a centrist fashion."
The Three R's would provide public schools with significantly increased funding and flexibility, dramatically streamline the mass of federal education programs, and hold states and school districts accountability for producing academic results and demonstrating progress. Overall, the legislation would increase federal investment in education by $35 billion over the next five years, the single largest increase in the 35-year history of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and target most of those new dollars toward the critical goal of closing the persistent achievement gap between poor more affluent students. To help all students succeed, the bill would engage the states in a new performance-based partnership. State and local officials would be given broader latitude to decide how to allocate federal funding in order to meet the specific needs of their communities. In return, states would be required to set standards for raising academic achievement, and improve the quality of their teachers. They would be expected to show annual progress toward tangible performance goals, and suffer real consequences for failing to do so.
The "Three R's" bill is based on the policy recommendations outlined in a paper by the Progressive Policy Institute, the Democratic Leadership council's in-house think tank. In summary, the Three R's plan would:
*** Streamline our national education priorities into five goal-oriented titles, focused on 1) closing the achievement gap between poor and more affluent children; 2) helping to improve teacher quality; 3) helping immigrant students master English and meet high standards in all subjects; 4) promoting public school choice; and 5) stimulating innovative local initiatives;
*** Create a tough new accountability system that pegs program funding to academic performance standards set by the states, and demand measurable progress each year in meeting those goals, and require "report cards" so that parents know how their school is performing compared to others in the district and the state;
*** Reward states that exceed their standards with more flexibility and bonus funding, and for the first time ever, sanction those states that chronically fail to show improvements, first by cutting administrative funds after three years and then by reducing non-title I funds after four years;
*** Increase funding for the Title I program for disadvantaged students by 50 percent to $13 billion annually, and drive those dollars down to the nation's poorest schools through a more targeted formula;
*** Increase funding for teacher and principal recruitment and retention, and high quality professional development by more than 100 percent, up to $2 billion annually, and call on states to meet the goal of having all teachers "fully qualified" by the year 2006;
*** Increase funding for immigrant students by $1 billion annually to improve English proficiency and raise academic achievement;
*** Continue to reduce class size in the early grades;
*** Authorize $300 million for rural school districts serving disadvantaged students and provide flexibility in return for improved student achievement;
*** Authorize $200 million for a new public school choice program to expand competition and opportunities for children within the public school system;
*** Blend funding from the remaining programs into a single "high performance" title, which would provide $3.5 billion to local districts for programs that address our national priorities of school improvement, after school academic programs, safety, and educational technology, while allowing locals to construct programs that meet their particular needs and encourage them to pursue bold reforms.
In addition to Lieberman and Bayh, other Senate New Democrat cosponsors of the legislation include Senators Bob Graham (FL), John Breaux (LA), Mary Landrieu (LA), Blanche Lincoln (AR), John Kerry (MA), Tom Carper (DE), Herb Kohl (WI) and Dianne Feinstein (CA).
* Senator Lieberman's Statement on the Reintroduction of the Three R's Bill
* Detailed Summary of Three R's Bill
* Three R's Q & A -- A Primer on New Democrats' Approach
* Targeting Title I Funds To Kids That Need It Most
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