ISSUES: Education
Main provisions of the education bill signed by President Bush on
Jan. 8, 2002
• Authorizes $26.5 billion for the 2002 budget year, which began Oct. 1, for K-12 education. That is about $8 billion more than the year before. It is $4 billion above what President Bush requested but nearly $6 billion below the level Senate Democrats wanted.
• Requires annual state tests in reading and math for every child in grades three through eight beginning in the 2005-2006 school year. Schools whose scores fail to improve two years in a row could receive more federal aid. If scores still fail to improve, low-income students can receive tutoring or transportation to another public school. A school in which scores fail to improve over six years could have staff changes. In schools already considered poor performers, students could receive tutoring or transportation as early as the fall.
• Requires schools to raise all students to reading and math proficiency in the next 12 years. Schools also must close gaps in scores between wealthy and poor students and white and minority students.
• Allows churches or other religious groups to provide tutoring and after-school programs.
• Requires schools to ensure that within four years all teachers are qualified to teach in their subject area. Schools could require teachers to pass subject tests or major in their field in college. If a teacher isn't qualified to teach in his or her subject area, a school would be required to send a letter notifying parents.
• Allows school districts to spend federal teacher-quality funds on other purposes _ training, hiring or raises for teachers, for example.
• Provides aid to build new charter schools and help existing ones.
• Requires schools to develop periodic "report cards" showing a school's standardized test scores compared with both local and state schools. The reports would also show two-year trends in scores and compare the percentage of qualified teachers in a school to other schools and school districts throughout the state.
• Provides nearly $1 billion per year for the next five years to improve reading _ three times as much as this year _ with a goal of making sure every student can read by third grade.
• Allows states to use a small portion of their federal funds as they wish. A pilot program further frees seven states and 150 school districts from most restrictions on spending.
• Requires schools to test students with limited English skills to ensure they are proficient in English after three consecutive years of attending school in the United States.
• Takes away federal funds from any district that discriminates against the Boy Scouts or similar groups that bar homosexuals.
• Provides money to help schools form partnerships with colleges and universities to improve science and math instruction.
