CONGRESS PASSES ESEA

[Tom Hart <hart@LIS.FSU.EDU>]

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CONGRESS PASSES ESEA
   The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act had a
special sojourn through both the House and the Senate during the final days
of the recent congressional session.  The story of the debates and votes on
ESEA are interesting because of the importance of ESEA to K-12 education and
to school library programs.  The story is also interesting because of the
role library and other grass-roots supporters played in getting this bill
successfully through Congress.

House Action

   With less than two weeks in the congressional session, H.R. 6, Improving
America's Schools Act, the reauthorization of ESEA, was in danger.
Department of Education legal experts said that if the authorizing
legislation did not pass, the Secretary of Education did not have authority
to spend funds appropriated for FY95.
   To counter an expected motion from Republicans to recommit the bill to
the conferees, and all out effort was mounted to contact House members,
asking them to defeat the motion to recommit and vote favorably on the
conference report.  Since this posed such a threat to education funding, the
Committee for Education Funding, a coalition to which ALA belongs, also
joined in the effort.  Daily strategy sessions were held by education
supporters to check the vote count.
   The ALA Washington Office joined with the large coalition to deliver
letters asking for a "no" vote on the motion to recommit and a favorable
vote on the conference report.  Library supporters took part in calls to
House offices asking for the same.  On September 30, the motion to recommit,
sponsored by Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX), failed by a vote of 184-215, with 36
not voting (September 30 Congressional Record, pp. H10407-8).  That vote was
followed by a favorable vote on the conference report, 262-132, with 41 not
voting (September 30, CR, pp. H10408-9).

Senate Action
   On October 3, meetings were held with Senate Labor and Human Resources
Committee staffers who said that Republican Senators, as part of a
continuing strategy, would not approve the cloture motion and would block
final passage of the conference report on H.R. 6.  By that afternoon, the
education coalition circulated letters to Senators and encouraged
grass-roots calls to Senators, asking for a favorable vote on the closing
debate and a favorable vote on the conference report.  Vote counts were
again checked at a series of meetings.  The huge grass-roots effort succeeded
on Wednesday, when the Senate voted 75-24 to invoke cloture, closing debate
on the conference report (October 5 CR, p. S14154).  The Senate then
scheduled the vote on the conference report to occur at 5:30 p.m. that day.
After an afternoon of speeches from majority and minority sides, the final
version of H.R. 6 passed by a vote of 77-20 (October 5 CR, p. S14207).  The
pertinent votes have been reported in the October 13 issue of the ALA
Washington Office Newsline (Vol. 3, No. 62), an electronic publication of
the Washington Office.

Smith-Helms Amendment
  During the passage of H.R. 6 in the House and Senate, two amendments had
been attached to the bill, one on school prayer and one on homosexuality.
Conferees chose the Senate language on school prayer, sponsored by Sen.
Nancy Kassebaum (R-KS), which said that any violation of protected prayer
would be decided in the courts, not by the Department of Education.  Sen.
Jesse Helms (R-NC), whose original amendment on school prayer had been
defeated, was expected to lead opposition to acceptance of the conference
report.  An amendment had been added to the bill in the Senate by Sen.
Robert Smith (R-NH) and Helms, which was so problematic in terms of
censorship and intellectual freedom, (see August 17 ALA Washington
Newsletter, p.2) that a large coalition, including ALA, had been formed in
August to fight the language.
   The compromise language in essence lists what could not be done by
schools with federal funds; and then, in the local control section,
nullifies the list.  The same large coalition, of which ALA was a part,
accepted the compromise language as the best possible solution, and
continued to work toward passage of the conference report.

Other Key Provisions
   The conference report itself (H. Rept. 103-761) was printed in the
September 28 Congressional Record (#138, Part II), where it takes up about
240 pages of small print.  Four key provisions of great interest to school
library media specialists are:
  * Conferees agreed to retain the separate school library resources program
as passed by the House.  Title III of ESEA, Part F, is the Elementary and
Secondary School Library Media Resources Program, authorized at $200 million
for FY95, and such sums as necessary for the following four fiscal years.
(However, this program has no actual funding in FY95.)  When funded, this
program would provide assistance for the acquisition of school library media
resources for the use of students, library media specialists, and teachers
in elementary and secondary schools.
  *The Chapter 2 school block grant was retained as ESEA title VI,
Innovative Education Program Strategies, with support for library services
and instructinal and media materials as an elegible use of funds.  Of funds
allocated to the states, 85 percent is to be distributed to local
educational agencies, which may use the funds for school reform, school
improvement, combatting illiteracy, improving higher order thinking skills,
and "programs for the acquisition and use of instructional and educational
materials, including library services and materials (including media
materials), assessments, reference materials, computer software and hardware
for instructional use, and other curricular materials which are tied to high
academic standards and which will be used to improve student achievement and
which are part of an overall education reform program."  Actual FY95 funding
for this program is $347,250,000.
  *In ESEA title III, Technology for Education, conferees deleted the set
aside for school library resources, as passed by the Senate, in favor of the
separate school library resources program as passed by the House.  However,
school libraries and school library media specialists have been more
throughly integrated into title III, so that school library media centers
are eligible for technology training.  Further, public libraries may be
eligible for partnership activities with schools.  Actual FY95 funding for
ESEA III technology programs is $40 million.
  *ESEA title XII, the School Facilities Infrastructure Improvement Act,
proposed by Sen. Carol Moseley-Baun (D-IL), provides assistance for the
improvement of public elementary or secondary facilities or school library
media centers.  Actual funding for FY95 is $100 million.

Thanks Needed
   This outcome is an especially favorable one for the school library field,
due to the hard work of many library consituents.  Many thanks to all of you
who responded to calls for action.  Special thanks are due to the
congressional champions, the sponsors of the original School Library Media
Act now incorporated in the final version of H.R. 6--Rep. Jack Reed (D-RI)
and Sen. Paul Simon (D-IL).  These leaders and others who supported ESEA
deserve thanks from library supporters whether or not you are in Rhode
Island or Illinois.

           ALA WASHINGTON NEWSLETTER, V. 46, #10, OCT. 21, 1994

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