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The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 3248, as reported by the Committee
on Education and the Workforce. If the bill were presented to the
President, his senior advisers would recommend that he veto it.
H.R. 3248 would convert a wide array of Federal education programs that
address national priorities into a single, unfocused block grant program
providing general aid for education. The bill would eliminate programs
that focus on our neediest children and schools, and on activities in which
national leadership can play a critical role. For example, it would
eliminate programs that help States and school districts raise educational
standards and achievement for students, improve the quality of teaching,
bring the benefits of technology to our Nation's students, and increase the
availability of after-school programs.
Block grants would replace these worthy programs with general aid for
school operations, which is the responsibility of States and communities,
with no attention to areas of national need. In addition, the bill
contains inadequate mechanisms to: (1) hold States and communities
accountable for their use of taxpayer funds; (2) hold schools and school
systems accountable for results; and (3) give the Administration and
Congress information with which to evaluate the block grant program's
performance.
H.R. 3248 is also objectionable because the "Ed-Flex" provisions that would
extend authority to waive Federal requirements to all States lack the
critical ingredient of the current program in which 12 States participate:
meaningful accountability, connected to high standards and expectations for
all children. The Administration supports expansion of the Ed-Flex program
to additional States, but only when the links to challenging academic
standards, high expectations for all children, and accountability for
results are strong and clear.
The Administration strongly supports Representative Clay's amendment in the
nature of a substitute, which would promote class-size reduction and
improved teacher quality, along the lines proposed by the President earlier
this year. The Clay substitute would provide much-needed assistance to
help States and local school disctricts recruit, train, and hire 100,000
additional well-prepared teachers in order to reduce the average class size
to 18 in grades 1 through 3 in our Nation's public schools. Rigorous
research confirms what parents and teachers have long believed -- that
students in smaller classes, especially in the early grades, make greater
educational gains and maintain those gains over time.
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