Bob Etheridge

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, this Congress must take action to address the serious need for school construction in this country for our children. Across this country at this very moment more than 52 million school children are attending class. Unfortunately, far too many of these children are not being educated in modern, well-equipped facilities where discipline and order foster academic achievement. Unfortunately for many of our Nation's school children, class is being taught in a trailer, in a closet, in an overstuffed or run-down classroom. Mr. Speaker, the General Accounting Office has identified more than $112 billion in school construction needs in America. As a former State superintendent of our State's schools, I know that North Carolina needs more than $6 billion to build new school facilities for our children. For example, there are as many as 13,000 children in Wake County, North Carolina, alone right now being educated in trailers. Experts at the Department of Education project that my State's high school enrollment will grow by more than 27 percent in the next decade. Mr. Speaker, no student in America should be forced to attend class in substandard facilities. No teacher in America should be required to struggle in overcrowded classrooms, and no child in America should be condemned to school in a trailer. We need to fix it now.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Madam Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 3130, the Child Support Performance and Incentive Act, which would reduce the financial sanctions imposed on states that have not established a statewide computer system by October 1, 1997 to enforce child support payments, and increase financial rewards for those states that effectively enforce child support orders. As amended, this legislation would deny visas and entry to noncustodial parents who are foreign nationals owing more than $5,000 in child support in this nation, and require state courts, cases involving non-amicable divorces, to include child care costs in their calculations when calculating the amount of child support payments a non-custodial parent must make. This bipartisan legislation is not an attempt to allow deadbeat dads the opportunity to escape their child support payments, but rather it provides an alternative penalty procedure for states that fail to meet federal child support data processing requirements. This legislation would reform federal incentive payments for effective child support performance, rewarding those states with respect to their performance in paternity establishment and child support order enforcement, including cost-effectiveness. The Family Support Act of 1988 set a deadline of October 1, 1995, for all states to have in operation a fully-automated data processing system to assist in administering their child support enforcement systems. Most states, however, were unable to meet this deadline because federal regulations specifying the requirements for the data processing system were issued late, and because of the complexities involved in establishing such systems. With the enactment of PL 104-35, Congress extended the deadline for two years, until October 1, 1997. The state of North Carolina is in full compliance with the October 1st deadline. The State has implemented its statewide automated data processing system for child support enforcement, and has been certified by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). While the State's plan was submitted to Health and Human Services prior to the October 1, 1997 deadline, the necessary site visit and administrative action by HHS was not completed until January 1998. North Carolina is one of fifteen states that will benefit from this bill's provision to allow HHS to waive any penalties for states that have done the necessary work but which were not certified by the October deadline. For those states that did not meet the October 1, 1997 deadline, this legislation is not just a slap on the wrist. This legislation provides severe financial penalties including: loss of federal child support funding and their federal welfare assistance funding provided by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant. We must demand parents live up to their responsibilities to their children. H.R. 3130, with the inclusion of the Cardin and Gilman amendments, effectively addresses state issues, as well as enhances the current web of tools available to enforce child support orders. Mr. Speaker, I support H.R. 3130, as amended. It sends a strong message to states and parents that child support enforcement is vitally important, and I am pleased to join my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in urging its passage.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I call on this Congress to take action to save the lives of America's brave law enforcement officers. Two days ago at 4 o'clock in the morning in Kenley, North Carolina, a police officer by the name of Todd Smith stopped a dark sedan on Highway 301 for missing tags. Those 3 men attacked him, took his weapon, shot him at point-blank range in his midsection. Fortunately for Todd Smith, he was wearing a bulletproof vest that was 10 times the strength of steel. They took him to Johnston Memorial Hospital. His life was saved. The doctor said if he had not been wearing a vest, he would have died on the spot. Mr. Speaker, each and every law enforcement officer in America should have the protection of a bulletproof vest. We have legislation to accomplish this. I am an original cosponsor of H.R. 2829, the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant. It is now tied up in a committee. The Republican leadership has refused to allow it to move. That is outrageous. In the name of Officer Smith and all law enforcement officers, I demand that this bill pass.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, this House must reform the IRS. The outrageous recently released GAO report documents that the IRS unfairly singles out taxpayers in the South for random audits. The GAO reports that 47 percent of the random tax audits during the past 3 years were in 11 Southern states that represent only 29 percent of the population. More than 85 percent of those audits had incomes of less than $25,000, many of whom depend upon the Earned Income Tax Credit for our working poor. Why should an individual be three times more likely to be audited in North Carolina than in the State of Massachusetts? North Carolinians are honest people. Why should they be subjected to this kind of treatment? As a former small businessman and a Southern taxpayer, I am outraged at this report and call for immediate action to reform the IRS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues on the Democratic side and those on the Republican side in passing IRS reform last year. The findings of that report provide some clear examples of why our esteemed colleagues in the other body should quit dragging their feet and join the House in passing reform.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to call on my colleagues in Congress to pass the legislation to help States and localities meet the school infrastructure needs of this country. In community after community in my district, we desperately need new and improved schools. The General Accounting Office has documented that America's unmet school construction needs total more than $100 billion. And we know that, from the Education Department's projected growth study, the problem is going to get radically worse in the next decade. Madam Speaker, our schools are bursting at the seams. School children are being forced to attend classes in trailers. And educators struggle to teach in appalling overcrowded conditions and unsafe classrooms. This Congress must act and act now to address this urgent problem. As a former school superintendent of my State's public schools, I know firsthand that the quality of a child's physical surroundings does make a difference in his or her ability to learn. Modernizing our school infrastructure will improve academic performance. North Carolina citizens approved recently a $1.8 billion investment in our education infrastructure. Congress must do the same. And I call on this Congress to do its part. Madam Speaker, we must pass school construction legislation and do it now.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to call the attention of the Congress to the work of the Reverend Harrison T. Simons of Oxford, North Carolina, for outstanding public service in the area of race relations. Reverend Simons received the Nancy Susan Reynolds Award on November 22, 1997 given by the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. The Nancy Susan Reynolds Award was founded ``to seek out unsung heroes who have made a difference in their North Carolina communities.'' On January 1, 1998, Reverend Simons retired from his position as rector of St. Stephen's Church and vicar of St. Cyprians Church in Oxford. As our nation prepares to celebrate Black History Month, it is appropriate to honor the work of Reverend Harrison, for his more than twenty-five years of service to the cause of racial harmony. I commend the work of Reverend Harrison and all members of the Oxford, North Carolina community of all backgrounds for their work in enhancing relations among people of every race. The Nancy Susan Reynolds Award to Reverend Harrison proclaims the following: The 1997 Nancy Susan Reynolds Awards When Z. Smith Reynolds died in 1932, his two sisters and brother wanted their portion of his estate to benefit the people of North Carolina who had helped to create that wealth. So they formed the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation in 1936. When their uncle, William Neal Reynolds, died in 1951, he left the majority of his estate to provide additional support to the Foundation. One of the founders of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation was Smith Reynolds' sister, Nancy Susan Reynolds, who has been called ``the most remarkable woman of widely diversified philanthropy in Twentieth Century America.'' She believed in taking risks, even risking failure; she respected leadership and those who exhibited the courage ``to try again and again.'' She held strongest to the conviction that the best societies are those built from the bottom up and that a good community is not improved by grand gestures alone but by many people working together for common goals. In 1986 the Trustees of the Foundation created the Nancy Susan Reynolds Awards to honor her by seeking out unsung heroes who have made a difference in their North Carolina communities. This is the twelfth year that the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation has presented the Nancy Susan Reynolds Awards, recognizing the uncommon leadership of North Carolinians whose vision, determination, resourcefulness, and strength of character have caused them to succeed where other individuals would have failed. Even today, few people outside the recipients' neighborhoods would recognize their names. You will not find among the previous winners a governor, a corporate executive, or a bishop. You will find a priest, a teacher, a carpenter, a forester, a farmer, a librarian, and a physician assistant. What is remarkable is how each, usually with limited resources and in spite of the odds, has accomplished extraordinary good in his or her community. The recipients this year--a Catholic nun from Belmont, an Episcopal priest from Oxford, and a dynamic young woman from Sunbury--are no less remarkable. During its history, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation has made grants of more than $240 million to projects in all 100 counties in North Carolina. While the Foundation's geographic boundary of North Carolina is firm, the Foundation's grantsmaking strives to be far-reaching. It often seeks to initiate rather than to react, to question rather than to accept, to challenge rather than to affirm. The Foundation currently gives special attention to certain focus areas-- community economic development, the environment, pre- collegiate education, issues affecting minorities, and issues affecting women.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life time achievements of Granville County Commissioner Robert Ed Strother. Commissioner Strother died recently at the age of seventy-three. He touched countless lives in his community of Granville County as a devoted educator and public servant. Commissioner Strother's extensive career as an educator included serving as a school principal, county superintendent, and holding several high-ranking positions in the Department of Public Instruction and the Division of Community Colleges. Throughout his many positions as an educator from Wilton High School basketball coach to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, one thing remained constant for Strother: maintaining children as the top priority. He always had time to listen to a child. Since 1989, Commissioner Strother served as a Granville County Commissioner serving twice as Chairman of the Board. He represented his district well having the courage to fight on issues that were important to his community. His colleagues on the Board valued his ability to keep the Granville community informed on statewide issues. Commissioner Alligood recalls, ``He loved walking the halls of the legislature better than anybody I've ever seen. He kept us all informed of what was going on in Raleigh and how it affected local government.'' Strother's thoughtful manner and quick wit opened doors for him throughout North Carolina and he incorporated his experiences through the state into his service to the community. I first met Commissioner Strother while I served as Chairman of the North Carolina House of Representatives Appropriations Committee. He would walk the halls ``button-holing'' legislators almost weekly. Strother would stop in my office and remind me of the needs of his people in Granville County and of all the children in our public schools and community college system. I commend Commissioner Strother contributions to Granville County and throughout North Carolina. I feel fortunate to have known Robert Ed Strother as a colleague in education and public service, and I am proud to have had him as a friend. Strother was a true patriot in every sense of the word. Commissioner Strother's legacy will live on in the lives of children he instructed and the members of the Granville community whose lives are richer for having known him. His legacy also lives on through many people who never knew him, but he made their lives better because he cared.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, last week this House took a defining vote for public schools in this country. By a vote of 228 to 191, we defeated a risky voucher scheme to take tax money out of our public schools to finance private schools. I am pleased my colleagues took this stand in defense of our school children and our Nation's public schools. Taking tax money out of our public schools and giving it to private schools and turning our backs on our public schools is wrong. I call on my colleagues to defend, protect and strengthen our public schools. As a cochair of the Education Task Force, I know what we must do to strengthen education for all of our children. We must help set high standards of excellence in education. We must empower teachers, parents, and students to achieve these high standards. We must rebuild crumbling schools and build new schools to relieve overcrowding. We must strengthen professional development for our teachers. We must get back to the basics in core subject areas, and we must encourage character education and ensure that every child can attend a school that is safe from violence and free of drugs. This House did the right thing in defeating vouchers, and now we must move forward to strengthen our public schools for every child in America.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend the gentleman from New York [Mr. Rangel] for yielding me the time. I rise today in support of this bill to reform the IRS service. I want to thank my friend the gentleman from New York [Mr. Rangel], the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Cardin] and the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Archer] for their leadership in this important issue. When the people of the Second District of North Carolina sent me to this body, they wanted an advocate, someone who would stand up for them in the people's House. And I am pleased to support this piece of legislation on behalf of the people of my district. Working families in North Carolina and across this country face enough challenges in their lives without the added burden of the things we have heard about in recent months of certain members of the IRS who are out of control. If a criminal has a right to be presumed innocent before the courts, so should the American taxpayers. The Congress has taken a strong bipartisan step forward in working for American families and can do it by enacting the first comprehensive reform of the IRS since 1952. The IRS reform bill, H.R. 2676, is based on an aggressive 3-point plan, which shifts the burden of proof from the taxpayer to the IRS, creates 28 new taxpayer rights, and overhauls the management of the agency through the creation of an independent board. Mr. Speaker, I would urge Members on both sides of the aisle to move forward for the hard-working families of America.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. I am opposed.

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion to recommit.

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight as a dedicated education supporter and reformer to send this anti-public school bill back to committee. There is a right way and a wrong way to reform education in this country. It is absolutely wrong for the House to pass this voucher bill that sells out our children, our teachers, our public schools, and the American taxpayer. Let me make it perfectly clear, it is wrong to take the taxpayers' money to subsidize private schools. Mr. Speaker, prior to my election to the people's House, I served two 4-year terms as the elected State superintendent of the schools in my State. As school chief, I fought to improve, strengthen, and reform public schools so that every child would have the opportunity to live up to his or her God-given ability. I am tremendously proud of the record of accomplishment of the students, teachers, parents, and the entire community as they achieved improved performance in education. Earlier this year, the respected NAEP came out, the National Assessment of Education Progress, and documented their successes. North Carolina's eighth-graders gained 18 points over the last 6 years on NAEP. That is more than twice the national average. Our fourth-graders gained almost three times the national average. North Carolina students have improved the equivalent of one full grade level during the decade. In other words, eighth-graders this year were one full year ahead of eighth-graders in 1990. That is the kind of improved public schools that the American people are demanding. Mr. Speaker, I have been honored to have the opportunity to cochair the Democratic Caucus' Educational Task Force to develop a consensus for first class public schools. That proposal includes early childhood development for every child so that they will come to the public schools ready to learn; to recruit and train well-qualified teachers; to relieve our schools, which are crumbling and overcrowded, so children will have places to learn; ensure our public schools are safe and drug-free; and empower parents to choose the very best public schools for their children. This agenda will work to improve public education for all children. Unfortunately, the bill before us tonight takes a headlong rush in the opposite direction. Instead of strengthening public schools, this bill represents a wholesale retreat from our national commitment to quality public schools. This bill is a shameful act of cowardice. We must not turn our backs on the schoolchildren of America. Taking taxpayers' money to fund private schools is wrong. This bill is bad education policy. It is not even about education, this bill is about politics. This bill is about a cynical political agenda of some of the most extreme groups in this country. This bill is about dressing up an ideological agenda in a package of sound bites. This bill is about robbing our schools of precious resources needed to provide for quality education for all of our children. Mr. Speaker, the legacy of this revolutionary majority in Congress has been one attack after another on our public schools. The previous Congress tried to abolish the Education Department, slash school lunches, and eliminate school loans. A few weeks ago a Member in the majority party even compared our public schools to the Communist legacy. Mr. Speaker, I sought this office because I could not stand by and watch this Congress of the United States continue to launch attack after attack on our public schools. This bill is nothing but an ultimate attempt to scapegoat our schools, our teachers, our students, and our parents, and yes, their communities. Putting taxpayers' money in private schools is wrong. I believe the American people want basic things: a strong national defense to keep our Nation free; safe streets and communities in which to live, work, and raise a family; an educated work force to keep us strong in an increasingly competitive global economy; and a public education system that provides each and every child the opportunity to make the most of his or her God-given ability. We must work to strengthen public school, not turn our backs on the public schools. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote to recommit this bill, this underhanded attack on our public schools.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to announce the introduction of my resolution in support of voluntary educational standards of excellence. I urge my colleagues to join the 23 original cosponsors and myself in support of this important measure. This simple, straightforward resolution is a commonsense approach to improving education in this country. The American people strongly support educational standards of excellence so parents, teachers, students, and taxpayers will have the advantage of quality public schools. This Congress must go on record in support of high education standards. As the former two-term, elected superintendent of North Carolina's Department of Public Instruction, I know firsthand that aiming high and providing our teachers and students the tools they need to get the job done is the proven way to improve academic achievement. America needs educational standards of excellence, and the House must pass this important resolution. Mr. Speaker, my resolution is strongly supported by the Council of Chief State School Officers, the American Legion, and other groups dedicated to providing a quality education to each and every child in this Nation. Our country's commitment to public education has been the great equalizer in this society. We must pass this resolution to strengthen and improve our public schools. I have worked with the administration in developing this resolution, and it can be supported by both Republican and Democratic Members of this House. Mr. Speaker, nothing is more important than our children. I urge my colleagues to join me in support of this important resolution to encourage education standards of excellence for every school in America.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this latest voucher bill to use taxpayers' money to subsidize private and religious schools, and I urge my colleagues to vote against this rule. It is misguided, it is wrong, and it is not what is in the best interests of the 90 percent of the children in this country who attend public schools every day. I sought this office because I could not stand by and watch the revolutionary Members of this Congress scapegoat, run down and bad mouth our children and our public schools of this country. This voucher bill is the latest attack on our public schools. Make no doubt about it, it is an attack on our children, their parents and their communities, and I urge Members to vote against it. Public education is the foundation of a strong America. Our public schools have served as a great equalizer in this country, and now we want to undermine that. We cannot and must not let this happen. We can improve our schools. This is a defining vote. Members of this House are either for strong public schools, or they are against public schools in this country, and I urge Members to vote against this.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, this month we celebrate the National Board for Professional Teaching Standard [NBPTS] 10th anniversary. Since its foundation, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards has made tremendous strides in recognizing our nation's outstanding teachers and elevating the performance level of our public educators. I am extremely proud that North Carolina's Governor, the Hon. Jim Hunt, who has been committed throughout his esteemed public service career to ensuring that our children obtain a quality public education, was the driving force in the creation of this important organization and has served as the NBPTS chair since the board's creation in 1987. Prior to the foundation of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards no national consensus existed as to the criteria for accomplished teachers. The NBPTS recognized that strengthening the quality of our teachers is the most direct action our Nation can take to improve our students' performance. The board created a rewarding professional development program and a stringent certification process for teachers. Thirty two states have incorporated the national board certification process into their school systems. Board certification effectively challenges and encourages talented teachers to stay in the classroom as well as providing an incentive for high caliber new teachers to enter the profession. Governor Hunt exemplifies the mission of the NBPTS, ``Ultimately, all learning comes down to what goes on between teachers and students. By raising standards and encouraging teachers to improve, the National board is channeling education improvement into the classroom to benefit students.'' After 10 years at the helm of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, Governor Hunt is passing the torch to Barbara Kelly, an experienced educator from Maine. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for Governor Hunt's distinguished leadership of this important organization. Governor Hunt has worked tirelessly in his unprecedented four terms as the Governor of North Carolina to improve the quality of public education in our State and across the Nation. He broke new ground in educational development when he helped ignite the national board, as he has with numerous other education programs in North Carolina and across the Nation. I applaud Governor Hunt's impressive leadership of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and his continued dedication to the improving and strengthening educational standards, and thus brightening our Nation's future.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Oregon [Ms. Hooley] for putting together this evening of tribute to our dear friend, Walter Capps. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to pay tribute to a friend and a colleague, Representative Walter Holden Capps, who was our friend. It is with deep sympathy and grief that I speak this evening. Words cannot truly express the loss that Members on both sides of the aisle feel with Walter's passing. As a professor of religious studies, he was known for his strong spiritual background and his deep, deep commitment to education. As you have heard, he was the holder of a doctorate degree from Yale University and the author of 14 books. He came to this people's House after winning one of last year's most hotly contested House races. Representative Capps entered the House after many years of committed service to education, 33 years. For 33 years he had been a professor of religious studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he pioneered the study of conflict resolution, a great beginning to come to the people's House. Students recognized him for his questioning, spiritual nature and a willingness to engage public issues on a philosophical level. In 1984, Walter invited the then Governor of the State of Nebraska, Senator Bob Kerrey, to teach with him his course on the Vietnam War. This nationally recognized course was the first of its kind to be taught in the United States. A Medal of Honor winner for his service in Vietnam, Senator Kerrey urged then Professor Capps to consider political life. Ten years later, Walter made his first run for the United States Congress but, as we have heard this evening, he came up just short. On May 21, 1996, during a second attempt at gaining public office, as we have heard this evening, Walter was injured in a massive automobile accident as he returned to his Santa Barbara home after having just completed a news conference. After emerging from three months of rehabilitation, Walter returned to the campaign trail where he was victorious in the grandest fashion. As a fellow member of the House Committee on Science, I would often sit next to Walter. He had a keen interest for the growing role of science in our society and asked many probing questions and wondered why we were not putting more money in science. Although he will be remembered as a Member of the House of Representatives, as we have heard this evening, and his contributions here, I will most remember him for the impact he has made on the young people through his many years of contribution, 33 years in education. He and I shared a commitment to providing quality education to all the children, no matter what their background may have been. I think if Walter is remembered by his family and his community, it will be for his commitment to the children. I will end by extending my heartfelt sympathy to Walter's wife, Lois, and to their three children, Lisa, Todd, and Laura. I know that this will be a tough few days ahead, but remember that your friends love you and they will be there for you because you have many, many friends. I join my colleagues in saluting Walter for his wonderful spirit and lifelong commitment to his fellow man. He was a true friend and he will be missed.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to call the attention of the Congress to North Carolina Governor James B. Hunt, Jr.'s proclamation of October 24, 1997 as ``United Nations Day'' in North Carolina, and I join him in urging all citizens to participate in all activities related to this day. I commend the work of members of the United Nations Association in the Second Congressional District and across North Carolina. The proclamation reads: United Nations Day 1997 (By the Governor of the State of North Carolina)

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York for yielding me the time. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to this bill and to this latest attack on our public schools and, yes, on our children, their parents, and their communities. This legislation is the wrong approach to improving education for the 1.2 million children in the North Carolina public schools and the more than 45 million children all across this great Nation. As the first member of my family to graduate from college, I am grateful to the public schools of North Carolina for the opportunity I had to get an education. They did a tremendous job for our three children. I know firsthand that public education holds the key to the American dream. As a former superintendent elected for two terms, 8 years in North Carolina, I know what it takes to improve the public schools and to give our children the opportunity to make the very best of their God- given ability. This bill is the latest attempt to use the precious taxpayer resources that we have to subsidize private schools. It will take precious resources that we need to strengthen our schools and put it into the pockets of the wealthiest people to send them to private schools. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the original version of this bill would have cost the U.S. Treasury over $5 billion over the next 10 years. That money would have been better spent helping States and localities rebuild crumbling schools, constructing new schools to relieve overcrowding. In fact, the President proposed a plan to do just that, but the proponents of this bill stripped it out of the original budget bill that passed this body earlier this year. Mr. Speaker, I sought this office because I could not stand by and watch Congress launch attack after attack on our Nation's public schools. I saw that 2 years ago when this body stood up and said, we are going to abolish the Department of Education, we are going to do away with the school lunch programs and we are going to eliminate student loans. A member of the majority party just last week even, last month, compared our public schools, and I quote, to the Communist legacy. This bill is nothing more than an attempt to scapegoat our public schools once again. Mr. Speaker, abandoning our public schools will not improve public education in this country. This bill is a cowardly act of surrender. Vote against this latest attack and vote for the Rangel substitute.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of character education and the strengthening of our public schools. I know teaching our children values and ethics will help improve education. Last week I visited three schools in my district where character counts. They have embraced character education. They provide instruction on how to make good decisions. It teaches each child to control his own behavior. It teaches children to look at the world through a moral lense. Character education adapts existing educational material to inspire development of core ethical values among all students in the learning process. Madam Speaker, it complements the efforts of parents, family, churches and the business community in developing qualities in our children that will strengthen our society. It emphasizes courage, good judgment, integrity, kindness, perseverance, respect, responsibility, and self-discipline. Character education is a public school initiative that can improve education in America. Unfortunately, Congress would rather play politics with our children's future. Madam Speaker, we do not need vouchers to put tax money in private and religious schools. Let us defeat vouchers.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. If the gentleman would yield, the number of studies that put that out, Tennessee is a great example as a State that spent the money, reduced class sizes and saw some tremendous results from it. There is no question that it makes a significant difference in kindergarten through third grade, because that is where children are learning the basic skills, where there is so much need for personalized attention. If you have a large class, as you were indicating, it is very, very difficult to be able to reach them. For some students, no problem, they will sail through. But those marginal students or those who show up at the public schools with all the number of problems they show up with today makes it very, very difficult for them to be able to make it. But if you give them the skills and give them the opportunity to learn to read, to do the basic computations to get going, and you give them the chance to find out they really can do it, it makes all the difference in the world. And you cannot do all of that, as you have indicated, without having good ongoing staff development for your teachers, and then the rest of your staff, for that matter. Certainly they are professionals. Certainly they work hard. But I do not know of a corporation in America that pays their executives, in a lot of cases far more than we are able to pay school teachers in our public schools, that do not spend a substantial amount of money on staff development and continue to upgrade and retrain those professionals on the latest skills. Yet we say to a lot of our teachers in America, you have to be recertified, depending on the State, anywhere from five to six years. You have to have so many hours of training, and you have got to pay for it out of your own pocket. Industry would not dare do such a thing. We would not do it. They pay for it, and yet we have to do it. As you are well aware, the first money for that, some of that money came out of the Eisenhower money that was put in the budget back in the late fifties. That money is still important today. It is not enough. States put it in, but I can tell you in a lot of States, when their budgets got tight in the eighties and early nineties, the first dollars pulled out of those budgets, and it was not true in just one State, it was true all across America, because we know here on this floor the Federal Government only puts in between 6 and 7 percent of the dollars that flow down. The bulk of the money is State and local money. Those were the first dollars pulled out, staff development, the very dollar you need. Once you get it out, I can tell you from being a superintendent, it is the hardest dollar to get back in.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey. He is absolutely right, that this country is what it is today because we have been able to stand on the shoulders of those who have given so much for so long in our public schools, under some very tough situations. I am very happy tonight to be part of showing some success stories. I hope we will be about that in this body on both sides of the aisle, talking about the successes of our teachers and children, because if we criticize our schools, we are criticizing our children and teachers. I hope I am never guilty of that. I thank the gentleman for helping organize this.

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Absolutely. I get a little frustrated at times, people talk about how schools have too much money, and some will say that. I do not know where they get that information. I would say to them, anyone who feels schools have more money than they need, go talk to those PTA presidents, those PTA moms and dads who are out there selling candy and selling subscriptions to books and working at ball games in the evening, and taking the money from the concession and buying things schools need, that their children need. That happens all across America. It is not restricted to urban areas, and not restricted to suburban areas, and it is certainly not restricted to rural areas. It is all across the country. Because that to me is the fact that parents want what is best for their children, and they are willing to go the extra mile to make sure that their children get that opportunity. When they do it and they spend those dollars and that time, it is not selfishly, for just their child, it is for all those children in that public school.

Mr. ETHERIDGE. If the gentleman will continue to yield, Mr. Speaker, it is a lot like the farmer that seeded the ground and put some water on, because that local board, in many cases those dollars are allocated. It gets back to the issue you raised earlier as it relates to vouchers. It is not like taking new money. We are taking money away from the students who were out there, whether they be in the poorest community, the wealthiest suburban community, and the rural community. Ultimately, all children have less money, because you are funding a source that was not there before, because we have a lot of children who are not in the public schools. That is their choice. I will say today that I will fight for their right to have that choice, but I will not support their right to take tax money and make that choice, because I do not think it is in the interests of all of our children. I do not think that is ever what was designed or intended when we talk about public education in this country. It is not taking public dollars and carrying it for private support.

Mr. ETHERIDGE. The gentleman is absolutely correct, Mr. Speaker. What that does is open up for young people. We want them to be well-grounded in the basic foundation, but children learn a whole lot more earlier than we can have any idea, and have interests. That is how we get our astronauts, how we get our scientists. With schools working together in consortia, or really outside the school, with various groups, there may be resources in the community they can pull in. Many schools are doing that in some areas, but they are doing it where they have substantial business interests who are putting the dollars in. But in some areas where those resources are lacking in terms of the tax base of the community or the school, and they do not have the business support because it is virtually nonexistent, then those children deserve the same opportunity. They deserve the same opportunity. They are just as talented. I would venture to say if we take a sampling or checked every Member who serves in this United States Congress and in the Senate, we are going to find a lot of people serving in this body that came from Small Town, U.S.A. There are a lot of children today out in rural areas in Small Town, U.S.A., who can make major contributions if we give them that opportunity. That is what the consortia is about, allow them to work together, because they do not have the money. They may not have the resources for all the Internet pieces they need. They may want to have a math high school. That is available in a lot of places and it works.

Mr. ETHERIDGE. The gentleman is absolutely correct, Mr. Speaker. What this was about was a reaffirmation of the fact that schools inherently are community-based. People believe very strongly in their schools. That is why poll after poll after poll and research and whatever says, I believe in my school, but it is the one down the road that needs changing, or the one down the road ought to have the new program, but I like what I have here. The belief there is that we ought to provide the resources to do it. Another example, a school I am aware of a number of years ago had very little parent involvement and low test scores, which indicates that, and a lot of other problems, discipline problems. The principal said, listen, I'm not going to put up with this. It was an area where you would say the school cannot be successful, with a lot of problems in the community, lack of involvement, et cetera. This principal decided, I am going to get them involved. She went to every house and knocked on every door, went to softball games, baseball games during the summer; wherever parents were, this principal went. It was a long story. Parental involvement, the PTA went from something like 10 percent to 80 percent. School scores went up dramatically; dropout rates went down. That is what we are trying to get to, is to be able to provide a resource. All this school needed was one person. One parent came and volunteered. Pretty soon they were not able to volunteer and they needed more help, so they were able to scrounge up enough money to pay a half-time person to coordinate the parents. These kinds of things make all the difference in the world: Just a few resources at the point of the school to reach out and bring them in and you have changed lives forever and the opportunities are tremendous. If we take that and allow a child to progress through school, and follow through with what we did this time, in putting $35 billion available for education beyond high school, we have changed this country forever, too, when we allow more and more young people to get a college education. But we have to get them started on the right track, get them to read, get them stronger in math, give them that foundation, get the parents involved, let them understand they can dream the American dream and they can achieve it.