A school administrator, who became minority staff director for the United States Senate Subcommittee on Education, Arts, and Humanities, forecasts that early childhood programs will achieve funding at the expense of the block grants of Chapter 2. (MLF)

The American Association of School Administrators has recently tapped all segments of the education community to gather and craft a viable, forward-looking vocational education recommendation to Congress. At present, vocational education is not integrated with the regular curriculum. Many barriers need to fall, and education needs to drop its…

Local school districts are suffering from Washington's ongoing antipublic education rhetoric. Educators cannot write fat campaign checks, but they can effectively lobby members of Congress through the AASA Legislative Corps. Now is the time to turn activist and help shape public policy. Supporting the Children's Investment Trust is a good start.…

School administrators should immediately inform representatives and senators in Congress about local construction needs in their own school districts. Administrators should also lobby for renewing the landmark Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), particularly the Chapter 1 program. AASA will push for a new ESEA that tackles poor…

Given the state of Chapter 1 funding, regular and special education advocates must fight for higher federal and state special education funding, resist legislators' efforts to divide their common child advocacy interests, work to entitle both special education and economically and educationally disadvantaged children under federal funding…

Mary Jean LeTendre, director of U.S. Education Department's Office of Compensatory Education, wants to concentrate Chapter 1 dollars on the neediest students in the neediest schools. John F. Jennings, general counsel for the House Education and Labor Committee, predicts more public education funding, a continuing push for national standards and…

Washington is totally ignorant about what takes place in schools and would rather fingerpoint than exercise true leadership. President Bush assumes that minimal vouchers to attend expensive private schools (with selective admission standards) will make a difference, ignoring the issues of financial inequity and inadequate city services. Meanwhile,…

Currently 59 bills are awaiting Congressional action. Meanwhile, a national coalition of economists and medical specialists (the National Leadership Coalition for Health Care Reform) are circulating a sensible consensus health reform plan proposing national practice guidelines; universal health care access; and efficient cost control, delivery,…

According to William Raspberry, U.S. schools are already doing a good job of teaching children who come to school ready for learning. The problem with America 2000 is that the $700-800 million price tag is too small; billions are needed for establishing child service centers and other support services to ensure optimal learning. (MLH)

Countering President Bush's America 2000 plan, the U.S. Senate passed the Neighborhood Schools Improvement Act establishing the 6 National Education Goals as law, creating a grant program enabling education agencies to make grants directly to individual public schools and allowing 50 districts greater flexibility in using federal resources while…

Last July, the New Initiatives Division of Sandia National Laboratory, a nuclear research center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, presented its findings on U.S. education to the U.S. Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education. Current dropout rates, test scores, college attendance, educational expenditures, educator status, work…

The 13 congressional subcommittees of the House Appropriations Committee divide up the federal budget, showing little regard for budget resolution priorities. Education usually fares favorably in this process. The Senate has a similar procedure, but Robert C. Bird, D-West Virginia, decides how the money will be spent. A less private appropriation…

A number of analysts and leaders state that investments must be made in furthering employees' skills and upgrading the nation's infrastructure. Revenue resources suggested include changes in the tax code to target those "on the gravy train" and reclaiming funds from the military budget. (MLF)

Name of Bush Administration's choice game is publicly financed vouchers allowing those already sending their children to private and parochial schools to avoid tuition fees at taxpayer expense. Although private schools administer entrance exams, public schools accept every child regardless of academic record, status, or race. U.S. Senate recently…

Confronting state funding problems and the federal government's decreasing fiscal responsibility for education, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Elementary and Secondary Education heard compelling testimony last fall from Kern Alexander, who described the "coming apart of America." Pointing to profound inequalities within states, he urged…