Federal

House Panel To Take Up Title I, ‘Straight A’s’ Bills

By Joetta L. Sack — October 06, 1999 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The House Education and the Workforce Committee plans to vote this week on three items that could largely determine the course of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization.

Committee members were expected to consider the proposed Student Results Act of 1999, an omnibus bill that contains Title I, bilingual education, a new rural initiative, and other programs for special populations of students.

The panel was also set to vote on the Academic Achievement for All--or “Straight A’s"--Act, a Republican-backed plan to give states much greater flexibility in spending federal K-12 money in exchange for accountability guarantees, and the “Dollars to the Classroom” resolution, a nonbinding GOP resolution that urges that 95 percent of all federal school aid be spent at the classroom level.

According to a draft bill, the proposed Title I language is a bipartisan creation that would, for the most part, stay the course with current law. There are no plans to create a Title I voucher program, for instance. But the draft bill contains a provision to allow disadvantaged children in failing schools to transfer to the public school of their choice, subject to state and local regulations. It would also reduce the percentage of poor students in a school required for schoolwide Title I programs from 50 percent to 40 percent. In addition, the bill would require that, within three years of its passage, all Title I teachers’ aides complete two years of higher education or pass a rigorous local exam.

Becky Campoverde, a spokeswoman for Republicans on the education committee, said the members expected to tackle a wide array of amendments before the vote. House aides continued to work on the bill late last week.

Early Praise

Kati Haycock, the director of the Education Trust, a Washington-based advocacy group for disadvantaged students, rushed to praise the Title I bill, even before it was officially completed. “The bill is, quite simply, good policy for poor kids,” she said in a written statement Sept. 29.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, meanwhile, plans to complete its ESEA legislation and vote on it by mid-month, said Joe Karpinski, the spokesman for Republicans on the HELP committee.

Related Tags:

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal Opinion Student Literacy Rates Are Concerning. How Can We Turn This Around?
The ranking Republican senator on the education committee wants to hear from educators and families about making improvements.
6 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
Federal Biden Calls for Teacher Pay Raises, Expanded Pre-K in State of the Union
President Joe Biden highlighted a number of his education priorities in a high-stakes speech as he seeks a second term.
5 min read
President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol on March 7, 2024, in Washington.
President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol on March 7, 2024, in Washington.
Shawn Thew/Pool via AP
Federal Low-Performing Schools Are Left to Languish by Districts and States, Watchdog Finds
Fewer than half of district plans for improving struggling schools meet bare minimum requirements.
11 min read
A group of silhouettes looks across a grid with a public school on the other side.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week via Canva
Federal Biden Admin. Says New K-12 Agenda Tackles Absenteeism, Tutoring, Extended Learning
The White House unveiled a set of K-12 priorities at the start of an election year.
4 min read
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona participates in a roundtable discussion with students from Dartmouth College on Jan. 10, 2024, on the school's campus, in Hanover, N.H.
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona participates in a roundtable discussion with students from Dartmouth College on Jan. 10, 2024, on the school's campus, in Hanover, N.H.
Steven Senne/AP