1999 Ron Paul 108:1 Mr. PAUL.
Mr. Chairman, Congress is once
again preparing to exceed its constitutional
limits as well as ignore the true lesson of the
last thirty years of education failure by reauthorizing
Title I of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act (SEA). Like most federal
programs, Title I was launched with the best
of intentions, however, good intentions are no
excuse for Congress to exceed its constitutional
limitations by depriving parents, local
communities and states of their rightful authority
over education. The tenth amendment does
not contain an exception for “good intentions!”
1999 Ron Paul 108:2 The Congress that created Title I promised
the American public that, in exchange for giving
up control over their schools and submitting
to increased levels of taxation, federally-empowered
“experts” would create an educational
utopia. However, rather than ushering
in a new golden age of education, increased
federal involvement in education has, not coincidently,
coincided with a decline in American
public education. In 1963, when federal
spending on education was less than nine
hundred thousand dollars, the average Scholastic
Achievement Test (SAT) score was approximately
980. Thirty years later, when federal
education spending ballooned to 19 billion
dollars, the average SAT score had fallen to
902. Furthermore, according to the National
Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
1992 Survey, only 37% of America’s 12th
graders were actually able to read at a 12th
grade level!
1999 Ron Paul 108:3 Supporters of a constitutional education policy
should be heartened that Congress has finally
recognized that simply throwing federal
taxpayer money at local schools will not improve
education. However, too many in Congress
continue to cling to the belief that the
“right federal program” conceived by enlightened
members and staffers will lead to educational
nirvana. In fact, a cursory review of
this legislation reveals at least five new mandates
imposed on the states by this bill; this
bill also increases federal expenditures by
$27.7 billion over the next five years — yet the
drafters of this legislation somehow manage to
claim with a straight face that this bill promotes
local control!
1999 Ron Paul 108:4 One mandate requires states to give priority
to K6 education programs in allocating their
Title I dollars. At first glance this may seem
reasonable, however, many school districts
may need to devote an equal, or greater,
amount of resources to high school education.
In fact, the principal of a rural school in my
district has expressed concern that they may
have to stop offering programs that use Title
I funds if this provision becomes law! What
makes DC-based politicians and bureaucrats
better judges of the needs of this small East
Texas school district than that school’s principal?
1999 Ron Paul 108:5 Another mandate requires teacher aides to
be “fully qualified” if the aides are to be involved
in instructing students. Again, while this
may appear to be simply a matter of following
sound practice, the cost of hiring qualified
teaching assistants will add a great burden to
many small and rural school districts. Many of
these districts may have to go without teachers
aides, placing another burden on our already
overworked public school teachers.
1999 Ron Paul 108:6 Some may claim that this bill does not contain
“mandates” as no state must accept federal
funds. However, since obeying federal
educrats is the only way states and localities
can retrieve any of the education funds unjustly
taken from their citizens by oppressive
taxation, it is the rare state that will not submit
to federal specifications.
1999 Ron Paul 108:7 One of the mantras of those who promote
marginal reforms of federal education programs
is the need to “hold schools accountable
for their use of federal funds.” This is the
justification for requiring Title I schools to
produce “report cards” listing various indicators
of school performance. Of course, no one
would argue against holding schools should
be accountable, but accountable to whom?
The Federal Government? Simply requiring
schools to provide information about the
schools, without giving parents the opportunity
to directly control their child’s education does
not hold schools accountable to parents. As
long as education dollars remain in the hands
of bureaucrats not parents, schools will remain
accountable to bureaucrats instead of parents.
1999 Ron Paul 108:8 Furthermore, maximum decentralization is
the key to increasing education quality. This is
because decentralized systems are controlled
by those who know the unique needs of an individual
child, whereas centralized systems
are controlled by bureaucrats who impose a
“one-size fits all” model. The model favored
by bureaucrats can never meet the special
needs of individual children in the local community
because the bureaucrats have no way
of knowing those particular needs. Small wonder
that students in states with decentralized
education score 10 percentage points higher
on the NAEP tests in math and reading than
students in states with centralized education.
1999 Ron Paul 108:9 Fortunately there is an alternative educational
policy to the one before us today that
respects the Constitution and improves education
by restoring true accountability to America’s
education system. Returning real control
to the American people by returning direct
control of the education dollars to America’s
parents and concerned citizens is the only
proper solution. This is precisely why I have
introduced the Family Education Freedom Act
(HR 935). The Family Education Freedom Act
provides parents with a $3,000 per child tax
credit for the K12 education expenses. I have
also introduced the Education Tax Credit Act
(HR 936), which provides a $3,000 tax credit
for cash contributions to scholarships as well
as any cash and in-kind contribution to public,
private, or religious schools.
1999 Ron Paul 108:10 By placing control of education funding directly
into the hands of parents and concerned
citizens, my bills restore true accountability to
education. When parents control education
funding, schools must respond to the parents’
desire for a quality education, otherwise the
parent will seek other educational options for
their child.
1999 Ron Paul 108:11 Instead of fighting over what type of federal
intervention is best for education, Congress
should honor their constitutional oath and give
complete control over America’s educational
system to the states and people. Therefore,
Congress should reject this legislation and instead
work to restore true accountability to
America’s parents by defunding the education
bureaucracy and returning control of the education
dollar to America’s parents.
Notes:
1999 Ron Paul 108:1
The tenth amendment probably should be capitalized: The Tenth Amendment.
1999 Ron Paul 108:2
federally-empowered probably should be unhyphenated: federally empowered.
1999 Ron Paul 108:4
K6 probably should have a hyphen and not a dash: K-6.
1999 Ron Paul 108:7
Of course, no one would argue against holding schools shouldbe accountable probably should be
Of course, no one would argue against holding schools accountable.
1999 Ron Paul 108:8
one-size fits all probably should be either the unhyphenated
one size fits all or one-size-fits-all without quotation marks.
