Education Reform Briefs

From the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN), 12/29/00

Education Secretary-Designate Called on to Support GLSEN Issues

According to GLSEN, the Secretary of Education is responsible for the overall direction, supervision, and coordination of all activities of the Department and is the principal adviser to the President on Federal education priorities, policies, programs, and activities related to education in the United States. GLSEN will call on the nominee to:

• Support and fully enforce existing Title IX standards regarding student-on-student harassment, including that which is leveled against LGBT students;
• Commit to the full enforcement of federal nondiscrimination laws through the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights;
• Make fair-minded appointments as he nominates deputy secretaries and assistant secretaries; and
• Ensure that all DOE-issued safe schools resources address harassment and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

From the Family Research Council/Ed Facts, 12/22/00

Education Gets Windfall in 2001 Federal Budget

The Education Department received a record 18 percent ($6.5 billion) funding increase in the fiscal 2001 omnibus spending package passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton yesterday. The funding increase will raise the total Education Department budget to $44.5 billion, a figure Clinton boasts as more than double the funding for education prior to his administration.

The fiscal 2001 budget contained many of Clinton's education priorities, including a first-time $1.2 billion appropriation for school renovation. Joel Packer, a lobbyist for the National Education Association, told Education Daily that the renovation program creates a new responsibility for the federal government and "gets the foot in the door" for a future school construction program. Packer's comments perfectly sum up the problems conservatives in Congress had with the funding.

Conservatives also lost the battle to ban funding for "morning-after" pills distributed through school-based health clinics to teenage girls.

From the Education Intelligence Agency, 12/21/00

NEA-AFT to Form "Partnership"

Stymied in their attempts to put together a new merger proposal, committees of the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers last week agreed instead to draft a "partnership" agreement to be voted upon by each union's representative bodies next July. The agreement calls for a 30-member joint council made up of 15 NEA officials and 15 AFT officials, including executive officers from both unions. The council will be bound by the directives of their respective union's policies and by-laws, and each union will be responsible for funding its share of the council's expenses within existing budgets.

The proposed partnership is designed to promote "interaction and collaboration" at all levels of the two unions, and to "increase cooperation." NEA and AFT agree to engage in joint projects and coordinate the delivery of services to merged state and local affiliates.

This outcome, after months of intense negotiations between NEA and AFT, has to be considered a major disappointment for merger supporters. While most details are still unavailable, it appears the partnership agreement includes nothing that is not already in place.

From the NSBA/School Board News, 12/19/00

Universal Education Credits Proposed

Now that voters in Michigan and California soundly rejected vouchers at the polls, supporters of public money for private schools have come up with a new plan: "universal education credits."

Under this plan, any parent, individual taxpayer, or business could receive a dollar-for-dollar reduction in their state tax bills for money spent on tuition. This concept was described in a paper published by the Cato Institute by Darcy Ann Olsen, director of education and child policy at Cato, and Matthew J. Brouillette, director of education policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

The credit could be taken for up to one-half of the per-pupil expenditure in the public school system, and taxpayers could take the credit for more than one child as long as the combination of credits does not exceed their tax liability.

Unlike vouchers, the authors state, this proposal would allow private schools to maintain their independence and avoid government interference.

From the U.S. Department of Education, 12/22/00

Education Department Receives Kudos for Publications Distribution

Based on a University of Michigan survey of 260 ED Pubs (the U.S. Education Department's distribution and referral center) customers, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) calculated that ED Pubs scored 79 on a scale of 100. That exceeds the current index of 71.2 for comparable private sector operations, according to ACSI.

All materials are free, and ED Pubs ships within 3-5 days. Since its inception in 1998, the service has received more than 400,000 phone calls and 350,000 e-mails with 225 million books, CD-ROMs, posters and other items distributed.

Complete survey results for the Department of Education and the federal government may be viewed at http://www.customersurvey.gov/.

From the AFL-CIO/Work in Progress, 1/2/01

American Federation of Teachers Benefiting from Email Communications

A resounding majority of the 1,411 full- and part-time faculty at Palomar College in San Diego voted to join AFT last month. The instructors are the latest to join AFT as part of the union's organizing campaign at California's community colleges. Organizers collected e-mail addresses from workers who signed union cards and used electronic communications to stay in touch, which proved to be crucial especially for the part-timers who were on campus only sporadically and comprise the bulk of the unit.