A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                    Contact:  Kathryn Kahler    October 4, 1994                                    (202) 401-3026

STATEMENT BY U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION RICHARD W. RILEY

Regarding Senate Debate on Reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

As the U.S. Senate prepares to vote on the Conference report, I encourage every Senator to keep the focus on high academic standards, $655 million for safe schools, more family involvement, better training for teachers, getting technology into the classroom and, for the first time, support for "charter" schools.

I urge the Senate to avoid gridlock, to remain high-minded and not to be side-tracked by last minute delaying tactics that may be good for politics but bad for the children of America.

Congress has been considering the reauthorization of ESEA for almost two years now and has accepted many of the recommendations of various bi-partisan committees appointed by previous Administrations.

As a result, the improved ESEA legislation has passed both the Senate (96-4) and House (289-128) with impressive bi-partisan support. Last Friday, the House passed the Conference Report by a vote of 262-162. A sudden reversal of this consistent pattern of bi-partisan support would be out of keeping with the entire legislative history and progress of the bill.

I urge members of the Senate to vote to end the filibuster, and to accept the language on "school prayer" proposed by Republican Senator Nancy Kassebaum that is included in the Conference Report. I am sensitive to the rights of Americans with deeply held spiritual beliefs and so is the Kassebaum approach.

I believe the Kassebaum language on school prayer strikes a proper balance: it provides for a loss of funds only where there is a willful failure by a school district to comply with a court order. Thus the issue is left to local communities, with guidance from the courts on this Constitutional question.

A careful reading of the legislation will also show that a very strong effort has been made to move away from the old 1960's federal categorical grant approach to support greater school- level decision making, including, for the first time, broad waiver authority of ESEA provisions. Schools using ESEA funding will gain a great deal more freedom to use funding as they see fit in return for greater accountability for achievement.

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