Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you to discuss the President's fiscal year 2003 budget for the programs administered by the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) and how it will provide support for improving the quality of education that our Nation's high school students receive. My testimony will highlight those programs that have the greatest impact on secondary schools.

Economic opportunities are more closely tied to educational attainment than at any time in our Nation's history. The increasing complexity of our knowledge-based economy means that jobs that once required at most a high school education now increasingly require some postsecondary education. In addition, occupations that were once open to individuals without any postsecondary education are increasingly requiring such education. For example, 30 years ago individuals with no more education than the completion of high school filled about half of white-collar office jobs. Today, less than a third of those jobs are held by someone with no more than a high school diploma. Jobs that require skills associated with having an undergraduate degree are expected to grow at a faster rate than jobs that do not require such training. The difference in earnings between high school graduates and college-educated workers has doubled since 1979.

A well-educated workforce is vital to our ability to be successful in an increasingly competitive international economy. However, our Nation's secondary schools are failing to provide too many of our young people with the basic skills they need to be prepared adequately to enter the workforce or pursue further study. Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress show little or no improvement in the overall performance of secondary school student achievement over the last decade. A recent study found that about one-half of college students do not have adequate preparation and need to take remedial courses in one or more subjects. Sixty percent of professors say that their freshman or sophomore students have fair or poor basic math skills, and almost 80 percent say their students lack basic grammar skills and are unable to write clearly. When employers are asked if public high school graduates are prepared to enter the work force, about 60 percent say that they are not prepared. We must do a better job of preparing our Nation's students for postsecondary education or the workforce.

This weak preparation becomes even more apparent when what our twelfth- graders know in math and science is compared to their peers in other nations. United States twelfth-graders scored below the international average, and above only two nations (Cyprus and South Africa) in both mathematics and science on the Third International Mathematics and Science Assessment. In addition, the average score of our advanced math and physics students was below the international average and among the lowest of the 16 countries that administered the assessments.

No Child Left Behind, the recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), redefined the Federal role in K-12 education and emphasizes proven strategies to strengthen Federal support for State and local efforts to improve our schools. These strategies include high State standards; testing of all secondary students in reading and math at least once between grades 10 through 12; increased accountability for student performance, including requiring States to report publicly on high school graduation rates; reduced bureaucracy and greater flexibility for States, school districts, and schools; and expanded options for parents to make choices for their children's education. Our budget proposal would help ensure that schools and districts have the resources to prepare students to enter college and universities and the workforce and make sure that no child is left behind.

Improving the Academic Achievement of Disadvantaged Students

While achievement gaps between white and minority students narrowed through much of the 1970s and 1980s, recently those gaps have remained unchanged or even begun to widen again. To help narrow achievement gaps, No Child Left Behind strengthened Title I accountability requirements by requiring States to implement statewide accountability systems covering all public schools and students. These systems must be based on challenging State standards in reading and mathematics, annual statewide progress objectives ensuring that all groups of students reach proficiency in reading and math, and annual tests for students in grades 3 through 8. Because of this promise of greater accountability and increased student achievement, the Administration is requesting $11.4 billion, an increase of $1 billion or 9.7 percent, for Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies, which supplement State and local funding for disadvantaged children to enable them to meet the same high standards as their more advantaged peers. The request would provide greater resources to the highest-poverty schools by allocating the entire increase through the Targeted Grants formula. In fiscal year 2003, States will reserve almost $80 million of their allocations under Part A of Title I to carry out dropout prevention programs or programs that prepare youth to complete high school or to enter training or employment.

Participation in advanced placement tests and other challenging high-level classes makes students more attractive to colleges and universities. However, white students are four times more likely to take advanced placement tests than black students and twice as likely as Hispanic students. In addition, students from families with incomes greater than $50,000 were, in 1994, almost twice as likely to participate in advanced placement programs as students from households with a family income less than $25,000. The Administration is requesting $22 million for the Advanced Placement program to help provide low-income students with greater access to advanced placement classes and tests.

Other programs that assist States and districts in reforming their secondary schools include the Comprehensive School Reform program. The Comprehensive School Reform program enables schools to develop or adopt, and implement, comprehensive school reforms based on scientifically based research and effective practices. In fiscal year 2003, the Administration is requesting $235 million, the same as fiscal year 2002, for the Title I Comprehensive School Reform program. We also are requesting level funding, $48 million, for the Neglected and Delinquent program, which supports programs to help institutionalized school-age youth gain academic and employment skills so that they can return to school and obtain employment after they are released from State institutions.

Improving the Quality of Instruction

Far too many high school students receive instruction from teachers who are not prepared to teach the subject areas to which they are assigned. Nationally, about 28 percent of public school teachers, and almost 40 percent in high-poverty schools, have neither a major nor minor in their main assignment field. Thirty-four percent of math teachers and 40 percent of science teachers do not have a major or minor in their main assignment area. All children deserve highly qualified teachers. The No Child Left Behind Act calls for States to have a highly qualified teacher in every public school classroom by the end of the 2005-2006 school year. All new teachers will have to be licensed by the State, hold at least a bachelor's degree, and pass a rigorous State test on subject knowledge and teaching skills. The Department is requesting funds for several programs to assist States and districts in providing each student with a highly qualified teacher.

The Administration is requesting $2.85 billion for the Improving Teacher Quality State Grants program, which provides support for States and school districts to develop and support a high-quality teaching force through activities that are grounded in scientifically based research. The Transition to Teaching program, for which the Administration is requesting $39.4 million, a $4.4 million increase over the 2002 appropriation, supports efforts to recruit, train, and place talented individuals in teaching positions and to support them during their first years in the classroom. The Administration is requesting $20 million, a $2 million increase over fiscal year 2002, for Troops-to-Teachers, which supports efforts to recruit, prepare, and support the entry of former members of the military services into high-poverty schools. We are requesting $12.5 million, the same as 2003, for Mathematics and Science Partnerships, which supports State and local efforts to improve instruction in mathematics and science.

Safe and Drug-Free Learning Environments

America's high school students cannot be expected to learn to high standards in high schools where they are threatened by drugs and violence. A recent survey found that 26 percent of 12th graders had used an illegal drug in the 30 days prior to the survey, and 50 percent had used alcohol. Under the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System administered by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in 1999, 7 percent of students in grades 9 through 12 reported carrying a weapon to school on one or more days during the previous month; and almost 8 percent of students in these grades reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property one or more times during the previous 12 months.

To help create and maintain drug-free, safe, and orderly environments for learning in and around schools, the Administration is requesting $472 million, the same as fiscal year 2002, for the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities State Grants program.

Increased Flexibility

Aligning resources to support reform efforts can be a significant challenge to the success of those efforts. The reauthorized ESEA provides States and districts with greater flexibility in their use of Federal funds. Under the State and Local Transferability authority, a local district can transfer up to 50 percent of its formula allocation from the Improving Teacher Quality State Grants, Educational Technology State Grants, State Grants for Innovative Programs, and Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities State Grants programs to supplement the allocations of any of the other programs or their Title I allocations. This authority enables a district to target more effectively its Federal funds to support its local reform efforts. In addition, up to 150 districts will be able to enter into performance agreements with the Secretary or their State and gain additional flexibility in the use of certain Federal formula funds to assist them in meeting adequate yearly progress, improve student achievement, and narrow achievement gaps. A district could use this additional flexibility to address achievement in its high schools.

Conclusion

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared remarks. I would be happy to respond to any questions that you may have.

This page last modified—August 2, 2006.