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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE           Contact:  Kerri Morgan (202) 401-3026 July 12, 1995                           Rodger Murphey (202) 401-0774

By choosing this course and insisting that every Republican toe the line, the Republican leadership is placing the House in opposition to the previously bipartisan efforts across America to improve basic skills, raise standards, make our schools safe and drug-free, improve teacher training, and help our young people go to college or make the transition from school to work.

Surely that is not what the American people want. They recognize it is vital to invest in education. They know that education is the key to a successful future for their families and their country. They do not support efforts to close the budget deficit by widening the education deficit.

By trying to kill Goals 2000, the subcommittee is essentially walking away from the National Education Goals and blowing up the bipartisan consensus that produced them.

Virtually every state is participating in Goals 2000, which provides flexible federal support for community efforts to raise standards of achievement, discipline, and teaching.

The subcommittee's vote to cut more than a billion dollars from the redesigned Title I strikes a terrible blow at the efforts to have all students, including disadvantaged students, learn to challenging academic standards. The subcommittee's action would have the effect of terminating from Title I more than a million students, students who need help the most in learning to read and write to high standards.

By gutting the money for safe and drug-free schools program, the subcommittee would undermine the efforts of parents, students, educators, and law enforcement officials to make sure our schools are safe havens for learning. By cutting more than half the funds to help limited English-speaking children, the subcommittee would limit opportunities for many students. And the subcommittee acted in an especially mean-spirited way by making significant cuts in services to students with disabilities.

All told, the subcommittee cut almost $4 billion from education. In that way, they taught our students a cynical lesson in Republican arithmetic: subtract funds for education to provide tax cuts for the wealthy.

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• Investing in Education and Training vs. Cutting Education and Training
• State-by-State Cuts -- July 12, 1995
• Impact of House Appropriations Subcommittee Proposal