Federal File

Just months after the end of a campaign in which Republicans were taken to task for backing cuts in education funding, five GOP moderates are trying to make sure that doesn't happen again.

They've formed the Republican Education Caucus to promote "a balanced approach" to federal education policy that "includes adequate levels of funding as well as innovative educational reforms," Rep. Jim Leach of Iowa, one of the caucus' founders, said in announcing the group's formation last month. ( "Paring Federal Bureaucracy Key GOP Goal For Schools, Rep. Gingrich Tells Congress," March 26, 1997.)

The message is a contrast to two years ago, when the newly minted gop majority in the House put funding for the Department of Education at the top of its hit list. In 1995, the House passed a bill to slash education funding by almost 20 percent. But conservatives later joined moderates' efforts to protect school programs from cuts last year and...