Dale Kildee

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne). (Mr. PAYNE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Davis). (Mrs. DAVIS of California asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, vouchers are a hotly debated topic throughout our Nation. The Michigan and California members of this House are very aware of this debate, having just had major ballot initiatives on private school vouchers recently defeated in their respective States. In my home State of Michigan, in fact, our private school voucher proposition was opposed by over two-thirds of the Michigan voters, with a similar vote in California. The people of those two States, which are quite a cross-section of America, have spoken very clearly on this issue. In committee, all private school voucher provisions were removed from the bill with bipartisan support. I believe that the passage of this amendment does jeopardize the many months of bipartisan work that have gone into producing this legislation. I would hope that the House would preserve the bipartisan support for this legislation and reject this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Roemer). (Mr. ROEMER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Roukema).

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews). (Mr. ANDREWS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hinojosa).

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Tierney).

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. McCarthy).

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kind). (Mr. KIND asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding time to me. Mr. Chairman, I believe this amendment would cross the line between preserving focused educational priorities and eliminating national areas of need. I ask Members to oppose it. Currently, this bipartisan bill allows school districts to transfer up to 50 percent of a program's allocation. This maintains the bipartisan priorities identified in the ESEA. By allowing transfers of 75 percent, the significant focus on the areas of school safety, teacher quality, and technology will be diluted. Mr. Chairman, the bill's current provisions allowing for a 50 percent transfer from a program strikes the right balance between flexibility and accountability. I would urge Members to reject this amendment. We have worked very, very carefully, and this is a very important part of the bipartisan agreement. I would urge Members to recognize that. This 75 percent amendment really, to my mind, violates the bipartisan effort that we have put into this bill.

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time, and I rise in opposition to the amendment. When we reauthorized IDEA in 1997, in a bipartisan way, we took steps so that schools could ensure a safe and orderly environment for all students. The 1997 amendments specifically allow schools to immediately remove IDEA children from the classroom for discipline violations and place children in alternative educational settings when they commit infractions dealing with guns, drugs, or are likely to injure themselves or others. What IDEA in 1997 also stated was that troubled, disabled children should not be kicked out of school onto the streets without educational services, since this will lead only to additional juvenile crime. Unfortunately, my concern over this amendment has already become reality in the tragic incident of school violence in Springfield, Oregon, 2 years ago. Kip Kingle, the shooter in the Springfield incident, although not an IDEA student, was suspended when he brought a gun to school. He was sent home without counseling or educational services and proceeded to shoot and kill his parents and go on a shooting rampage at his school. This incident is the perfect example of why cutting educational services off for children can lead to disastrous circumstances. I fully believe, as do all of us here, that our schools should be safe for all children. Now, those children who engage in dangerous activities should be dealt with through such means as immediate removal from the classroom. This is something we can really agree upon: Dangerous children must be removed from the classroom, absolutely and immediately. However, ceasing educational services for these children, or for any child, is not the answer, since it will only lead to more juvenile crime and possible situations similar to the horrific incident in Springfield. I taught school for 10 years, and we had incidents where we had to have that child removed, not necessarily an IDEA child, a child in our regular programs, but we did provide in Michigan alternative programs for that child. I know children who were involved in that fashion and did get alternative education who are now working and are productive citizens in Flint, Michigan, because we gave them that alternative. I think all children should have some possibility of alternative services when they commit such incidents as these.

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott).

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott.)

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of the time to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews).

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent for 2 additional minutes.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott). (Mr. SCOTT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews). (Mr. ANDREWS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, in a letter from the National Education Association, which represents 2.6 million members in this country, they urge defeat of the Brady amendment. Just let me read from that letter. ``On behalf of the National Education Association's 2.6 million members, we urge your opposition to the Brady amendment to the ESEA reauthorization bill, H.R. 1, that would in effect remove all accountability for disciplinary actions that result in harm to the health or welfare of students.'' It goes on to say, ``Immunizing school boards and local education agencies will not improve discipline in the classroom.'' Instead, the amendment will place students at risk while undermining the focus on accountability to parents and children central to the ESEA bill. We urge your opposition to this dangerous amendment.'' I would commend these word to the Members.

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott).

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I have always believed that education, the education dollar, is really an investment dollar. It should really be part of our capital budget. It is a very important area of our national life, and we worked closely on these figures within the committee and reached bipartisan support for these figures in the committee, not without the knowledge of the White House. Now, the White House submitted the budget, but White Houses are even permitted to adjust figures. We worked closely with Sandy Kress from the White House as we, in a bipartisan way, crafted what we figured were figures that should be the authorization levels for these programs. Now, albeit we will have to fight for the appropriations for these things, I have always said that the authorization is much like a get- well card. If I have a friend who is ill, I will send my friend a get- well card indicating my sentiment and the value of my friend; but what my friend really needs is the Blue Cross card to pay the bills. This is what the committee, the authorizing committee, agreed upon were figures that would address the needs of education in this country. We did not do this in a vacuum in secret from the White House. Mr. Sandy Kress was with us most of those times as we discussed this. So I would assume the White House certainly wants this bill to be passed. I know they have been working very, very hard on both sides of the aisle to get this bill passed. So let us give the White House a chance in some informal way to adjust its figures that it had in its budget. What did we do in the committee? We did double the title I program over 5 years to $17.2 billion to raise the academic achievement of our low-income children. We have all talked about the importance of title I. We increased resources for teacher quality by $1.3 billion to $3.6 billion. We have school districts throughout this country that have what I call ``bus stop'' teachers. They have teachers who are not qualified, they are not certified, not qualified to teach in their field. That is unfair to our students so we increased money for teacher quality. We set aside $500 million to turn around our low-performing schools. We have to identify those low-performing schools by having some standards and some good assessment, and we will turn those schools around hopefully with these dollars. We invest $750 million for students with limited English proficiency, a $290 million increase. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hinojosa) worked very hard on that issue. It increases an area that is very, very important for our national life. It increases education technology to $1 billion, an increase of $128 million. These figures were arrived at in the full light of the day with the awareness of the White House, and the White House in the last few days has been pushing for enactment of this bill. I would urge that this amendment be turned down. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote, and pending that, I make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate this display of bipartisanship also. I think for those who are concerned that Title I should perform better, this amendment would certainly help teachers, especially the newer teachers, to enhance their skills; and I urge its adoption.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?