Bush Education Plan Goes to Congress |
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Highlighted by a $5 billion reading program, greater control for local school officials, vouchers and mandatory annual student testing, President Bush's education reform bill was officially introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives on March 22, 2001.
H.R. 1, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, sponsored by House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Boehner (R-OH), allocates spending $5 billion over five years to ensure that all children learned to read by the end of the third grade. This "Establish the Reading First" program, along with the annual reading and mathematics testing formed the core of Bush's presidential campaign's education platform.
"Today, nearly 70 percent of low-income fourth graders are unable to read at a basic level on national reading tests. Our high school seniors trail students in most industrialized nations on international math tests. And nearly a third of our college freshmen find they must take a remedial course before they are able to even begin regular college level courses." -- President Bush from A Blueprint for New Beginnings.
A chance, a choice and a charge: Introducing the bill, Rep. Boehner stated, "H.R. 1 will give students a chance, parents a choice, and schools a charge to be the best in the world."
In a press release of March 22, 2001, Secretary of Education Rod Paige praised the proposed bill stating, "H.R. 1 offers a plan of attack against the persistent and insidious achievement gap between our disadvantaged students and their more affluent peers by linking federal support for education to strong accountability for results."
Vouchers still controversial: While the bill has garnered some bipartisan support, Democrats are likely to oppose the president's voucher proposal designed to help parents in depressed school districts send their children to private and religious schools. Voucher opponents argue the plan will unfairly take money away from a general public school system already short on money.
A summary of H.R. 1, as released by the House Education and the Workforce Committee follows on page 2. A summary of President Bush's proposed budget for education can be read on page 3.
Next page > Summary of Education Bill > Page 1, 2, 3
