Anti-Drug Legislation Wins House Endorsement
Following the lead of the Senate, the House has approved a bill that would require schools to have anti-drug programs and policies as a prerequisite to receiving federal funds.
The bill would also direct more drug-education money to poorer districts and encourage states to pass legislation designating drug-free zones around schools. Congressional aides said it was not yet clear if the two chambers would hold conference negotiations on the measures this week, when the Congress is scheduled to recess until January.
In a related development, President Bush has named the 27 members of the President’s Drug Advisory Council. The panel, which will be headed by William Moss, an oil and gas investor from Texas, will serve for two years.
Other members include: Patricia A. Burch, the founding member of the National Federation of Parents for Drug-Free Youth and the National Partnership to Prevent Drug and Alcohol Abuse; Lee I. Dogoloff, executive director of the American Council for Drug Education; Mary L. Jacobson, co-founder of Parent Resources and Information on Drug Education; Ewing M. Kauffman, chairman of Marion Laboratories and the benefactor of Project STAR in Kansas City, Mo.; and Brenda Lee, principal of Edison Elementary School in Dayton, Ohio.
A House committee last week approved a wide-ranging bill that would prohibit discrimination against the nation’s 37 million disabled citizens by most organizations, including private, nonreligious schools.
The action by the House Education and Labor Committee brings the measure, known as the “Americans with disabilities act,” one step closer to passage. Overwhelmingly approved by the Senate in September, the bill still must pass through two more House committees.
The version approved last week differs only slightly from the Senate bill, which was the result of a compromise between President Bush and Senate leaders. Both bills would forbid private schools to discriminate against the disabled, including victims of AIDS, in admissions, employment, and accommodations.
Aides said last week they expected the full House to take up the measure early next year.
Senator Claiborne Pell, chairman of the Senate’s education subcommittee, said last week that he will seek a sixth term.
Rumors had circulated that the Rhode Island Democrat, who turns 71 this week, would retire rather than face an anticipated strong challenge from Representative Claudine Schneider, a Republican, in 1990.
“I intend to continue working on my longtime agenda of improving the quality of education, of increasing educational opportunities, and of bringing college education to more of our young people,” Mr. Pell said in a statement.
The senator, for whom the Pell Grants program is named, has for many years been one of the most prominent advocates in the Congress of federal education programs.
