News In Brief

Keeping the pressure on congressional Republicans to pass a fiscal 1996 spending bill favorable to education programs, Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley warned recently that looming cuts in the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities program could affect 40 million children and 97 percent of all school districts.

"This program is no panacea. It is only one front in this important battle," Mr. Riley said at a Feb. 9 news conference, a week after another briefing where he warned of potential cuts in the Title I compensatory-education program.

"But we are determined to do our part," he said. "In schools, our first responsibility is to create an...