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Guest Commentary: June 25, 2001
Education at Top of Agenda
The Honorable Kay Bailey Hutchison
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The Senate and the House of Representatives have made historic progress toward an education reform plan that represents the most significant changes in federal education policy in more than 35 years.
Reflecting President Bush's education priorities, the legislation focuses on three basic principles:
- Requiring states to test students and measure their progress in grades three through eight;
- Rewarding states that improve children's education;
- Reducing federal red tape and giving states and local school districts unprecedented flexibility in how they decide to use their federal education funds.
To qualify for certain federal education funding, states will have to demonstrate that student performance is improving for children in all economic categories. They will have to provide parents with more information about their schools and with more alternatives when their kids are trapped in failing schools, such as the ability to transfer to another public school. Underachieving schools are to get help under the plan, but they will face serious consequences for persistent failure.
This is a landmark bill because, for the first time, both parties in Congress have agreed that real reform requires that parents must have a say-so and more control over their children's education. Parents -- and the public -- will have access to detailed school-by-school "report cards" on the performance of their schools.
That provision of the legislation follows the outline of my "Parents' Right-to-Know Act," providing parents with accurate records of school performance. States will make the information available to parents and the public on the Internet and through other means that ensure broad distribution.
I also have included an amendment to the education reform bill that offers even more options to public schools – options that parents of children in private schools have long enjoyed. This amendment would remove the obstacles preventing public schools from being able to offer single-sex classrooms and single-sex schools to parents and students who choose them. Public schools should be able to tailor their programs to what best fits the needs of students in their particular area.
Most of the time, co-education classes are going to be the right answer for children's educational needs. But in some circumstances we find that students do better in a single-sex atmosphere. We want parents who might not be able to afford private school or might not have the option of parochial school to be able to go to their school board and request, perhaps, a single-sex eighth-grade math class for boys, or a single-sex chemistry lab for girls. Or some districts might want to establish single-sex schools, some of which have had great success in improving the test scores of previously failing students of both sexes.
In addition, the bill includes my legislation providing federal incentives for mid-career or retired professionals to enter classrooms and teach where they can make a real difference.
Meaningful education reform is finally at the forefront of the congressional agenda. Congress has worked with the White House to produce constructive legislation that enjoys bipartisan support. As a result, we will have more accountability in our schools, increased flexibility and strengthened local control. Schools will measure their progress in terms of demonstrably improved results -- rather than compliance with a one-size-fits-all federal rule.
Note: Sen. Hutchison issues a weekly column; this column was released on June 20, 2001.
 How to contact Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas)
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