FOR RELEASE January 30, 1996
Contact: Melinda Kitchell Malico (202) 401-1008
Classrooms from Rhode Island to Oregon and Texas to Minnesota are raising academic standards, expanding the use of technology, promoting greater parental and community involvement and better preparing teachers through funds from the Goals 2000: Educate America Act.
U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley today said that 36 states and the District of Columbia have received the excellence grants totaling $290,660,650 in second-year Goals 2000 support for state, community and school efforts to improve teaching and learning in the current year. Additional states will receive second-year funding in the near future. Forty-eight states participated in year one, sharing grants totaling $85 million.
The Goals 2000: Educate America Act was passed by Congress with bipartisan support and, Riley said, has garnered strong backing from parents, educators and the business community, who applaud its emphasis on rigorous courses and discipline, and competency in core academic subjects. The Act assists grassroots, community-based reforms focused on teaching the basics, raising academic standards, improving student achievement and preparing students for careers in the workplace.
In a break with the old top-down approach to government, schools and states receive Goals 2000 funds, and flexibility from the Education Department in the use of those funds, in exchange for a commitment to set challenging academic standards for student learning and improved accountability. The Goals 2000 partnership enables schools, counties, states and the federal government to work together to improve the quality of education across America.
Riley said thousands of local schools would lose their excellence grants under Goals 2000 if proposed cuts to the program are adopted by Congress. President Clinton sought $750 million for Goals 2000 in fiscal year 1996 to significantly increase the number of participating schools. But the U.S. House of Representatives voted to eliminate all funds for the program as part of a nearly $4 billion, or 17 percent, cut to education. The Senate Appropriations Committee would cut Goals 2000 funding to $310 million.
Local school improvement plans to help students reach high standards of excellence and discipline are developed with broad-based parent, teacher and community input. Many states report they use both voluntary national standards and standards developed by other states to guide them in developing their own individual plans, according to State Curriculum Frameworks in Mathematics and Science: How are They Changing Across the States, a 1995 report prepared by the Council of Chief State School Officers.
Goals 2000 has won support from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Alliance of Business, the Business Roundtable, the National Parent Teacher Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Federation of Teachers, and the Council of Chief State School Officers, among many others.
"If we lose Goals 2000, it would be an incredibly negative setback for this country," said Louis V. Gerstner, chairman and CEO of IBM, at a White House meeting last September.
"From charter schools, to improving reading, and from upgrading teacher skills to getting more computers in the classroom, I've seen funds from Goals 2000 help energize educational improvements across our country," Riley said. "When you raise expectations and standards, students and schools respond favorably."
Ohio, for instance, is using Goals 2000 support to raise student academic achievement, develop a technology network between schools, promote public outreach and awareness about education goals, and connect school districts and colleges of education to better train teachers.
Many school districts in Kentucky are using Goals 2000 support to dramatically expand the use of technology in schools. Increased parent and community involvement, distance learning, teaching workshops for teachers, administrators and families that air on cable television, and school access to electronic mail and the information superhighway represent a few of the districts' efforts. And Massachusetts, Michigan and Minnesota are using Goals 2000 funds to support charter schools.
In year two of the program, 90 percent of the funds go directly for local school improvement.