Education Bill Compromises on Bilingual Ed, Expands Many Programs

WASHINGTON—New programs to help high school dropouts, illiterate adults and students with special gifts are included in a wide-ranging education bill that cleared the House with only one dissenting vote.

The School Improvement Act, passed 401-1 on Thursday, consolidates 14 programs that touch nearly every elementary and secondary school child in the nation, expanding in some areas and renewing all programs until 1993.

“We’ve expanded our commitment to the nation’s children and closed the gap between the haves and the have-nots in education,” said Rep. Augustus Hawkins, D-Calif., chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.

The sweeping bill contains programs for low-income and low-achieving children, preschoolers and high-school dropouts, gifted and talented students, math, science and foreign language teachers, students with limited English skills and many other groups.

The overall budgets approved by the Senate and House contain enough money to pay for the higher spending authorized in the omnibus House bill. Actual fiscal 1988 outlays for the House-approved programs will not be determined until an education appropriations bill is passed.

The education authorization bill calls for $779 million in education spending above current levels _ the first time the House has backed a real increase in domestic spending in several sessions of Congress, according to Hawkins.

Rep. Phil Crane, R-Ill., was the only lawmaker voting against the bill.

“We tried to work out the controversies behind the scenes,” Hawkins said. He said the overwhelming bipartisan vote makes it likely the Senate will act quickly on a companion measure and unlikely any significant opposition will arise.

One of the only floor debates Wednesday concerned an unsuccessful attempt by Rep. Bill Grant, D-Fla., to bar federal funds for youth suicide prevention courses until the Education Department studies such activities further. School districts are allowed to use education block grants to develop the courses if they wish.

Grant said many experts fear “death education” courses could spark suicide epidemics among teens. “It’s not that we don’t want to deal with the problem, we don’t want to aggravate the problem,” he said.

Rep. Charles Bennett, D-Fla., said his son committed suicide the day he was released from a hospital and his teen-age granddaughter is hospitalized now after trying to kill herself. He said it would be “a very great mistake” to delay federal aid for voluntary grass roots education efforts.

The amendment was rejected by voice vote.

A floor battle over bilingual education was averted by a delicate compromise between the demands of the Reagan administration and members of the Hispanic caucus. It authorizes more money in the future for teaching methods that use English, as the administration had sought. But the native-language programs now required of almost all grant recipients will continue to receive at least as much money as they get now.

The largest single item in the bill is the government’s Chapter 1 program for low-income and educationally disadvantaged children. The bill authorizes $4.1 billion for basic grants for Chapter 1 services, $200 million higher than current spending.

More money would be targeted to the poorest areas, and districts would have to prove they are getting results to keep getting money. New Chapter 1 services would include a $100 million dropout prevention program and a $50 million “even start” program combining literacy training for parents with preschool education for their children.

In addition, the bill calls for $30 million to help pay for vans, mobile classrooms and other equipment needed to provide Chapter 1 services to religious school students. A 185 Supreme Court ruling barred public school teachers from teaching in the private schools.

Other major authorizations:

_$759 million to offset the revenue loss suffered by school districts that contain tax-exempt federal installations. Current spending is $695 million. A lengthy floor dispute over the distribution formula ended with a decision to resolve the problem in conference with the Senate.

_$580 million in education block grants, about $50 million higher than current spending.

_$246 million for bilingual education, nearly double current spending.

_$200 million for adult education, almost twice the $109 million currently being spent.

_$25 million for a new gifted and talented program named after the late Sen. Jacob Javits, R-N.Y.

Other programs renewed or expanded in the bill are drug education, $250 million; math and science teacher training, $400 million; magnet schools aimed at desegregation, $115 million; the Women’s Educational Equity Act; immigration education; Indian education; and various fellowship programs.



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