Education

Legislative Report

September 07, 1981 8 min read
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as of 5 p.m. on August 4

Congress is in recess until September 9

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION AUTHORIZATION FOR FISCAL 1982 (HR 1520; S 1194; S 1200). House bill would provide $1.16 billion for the science foundation in fiscal 1982, including $75 million for science education programs. S 1194 would authorize $1.047 billion, including $19.9 million for science and engineering education. S 1200 would authorize $1.044 billion, including $20.4 million for science and engineering education.

LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION ACT EXTENSION (S 1533, HR 3480). Senate bill would authorize funds for the Legal Services Corporation through fiscal 1984. House bill would authorize the corporation, which provides free or low-cost legal assistance to low-income people, through fiscal 1983.

CA STACA APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE DEPARTMENTS OF EDUCATION AND HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES FOR FISCAL 1982. The Administration requested $12.4 billion for the Education Department, including $4.8 billion for elementary and secondary education, $401 million for impact aid, $49 million for special education and rehabilitative services, $623 million for vocational and adult education, and $144 million for bilingual education. (Hearings were conducted in May, but no mark-up has been scheduled.)

APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR AND OTHER AGENCIES FOR FISCAL 1982 (HR 4035). House bill would provide $144.1 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities, $157.5 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, and $14.4 million for the Institute of Museum Services. Senate bill would provide $113.7 million for the humanities endowment, $119.3 million for the arts endowment, and $8.4 million for the museum institute. Both bills would transfer the museum institute from the Department of Education to the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities.

APPROPRIATIONS FOR INDEPENDENT AGENCIES FOR FISCAL 1982 (HR 4034). House bill would provide $1.103 billion for the National Science Foundation, including $35 million for science education programs. Senate bill would provide $1.047 billion for the science foundation, including $19.9 million for science education programs.

APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR FISCAL 1982 (HR 4119). Would provide $22.7 billion for the Department of Agriculture, including $3.765 billion for child nutrition programs. Includes a provision to reduce automatically child nutrition program funding by $1.116 billion when the budget reconciliation bill becomes law. In addition, House bill would transfer $75 million from u.s.d.a. commodities programs to school lunch programs.

VOTING RIGHTS ACT EXTENSION (HR 3112, S 895). Would extend until 1992 the Voting Rights Act, which requires that nine states and parts of 13 other states get Justice Department or federal court approval before changing elections procedures. House bill, sponsored by Peter Rodino, D-N.J., was amended by the judiciary committee to extend the act indefinitely, with bail-out provisions. No action on Senate bill sponsored by Charles Mathias, R-Md.

TUITION TAX RELIEF (S 550). Would allow parents of private-school students a tuition tax credit of up to 50 percent of educational expenses, beginning with a $250 maximum credit next year. Sponsored by Robert Packwood, R-Ore., and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y. Senate finance subcommittee held hearings on June 3 and 4; full committee voted against including a tuition tax credit provision in the omnibus tax cut measure. No further action scheduled.

ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF LEGISLATION (S 43). Would require the Congressional Budget Office to prepare and submit, for every bill and resolution reported in the House or Senate that has certain specific economic consequences, an estimate of the cost to be incurred by state and local governments in carrying out or complying with the bill or resolution. Sponsored by Jim Sasser, D-Tenn.

BLOCK GRANTS (S 807). Would alter Congressional procedures to encourage speedy adoption of block grants. When the President proposes consolidating programs, an authorizing committee would have 60 days to act. If the committee does not act, the bill would be forwarded automatically to the floor. (Under regular procedure, if a committee does not act on a bill, it dies.) Would also rule out amendments to Presidential proposals, both in committee and on the floor; and would standardize regulations and monitoring of federal assistance programs. Sponsored by William Roth, R.-Del., and sent to governmental affairs committee.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION (SJ Res. 41). Would forbid preferential treatment in education, such as the establishment of numerical quotas based on the race, sex, or national origin of students. Sponsored by Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution held hearings on June 11 and 18, also dealing with the impact and costs of affirmative action.

CIVIL RIGHTS (HR 3466). Would amend Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to prevent the federal imposition of rules or regulations to enforce numerical quotas related to race, creed, color, national origin, or sex in employment or school admissions policies. Referred to the House Constitution subcommittee and the education committee, which referred the bill to five subcommittees.

SEX EQUITY (S 1361). Would amend Title IX of the 1972 amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to ensure that Title IX covers only education programs that directly receive federal funding. Sponsored by Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

TRUTH-IN-TESTING (HR 1662). Would require the disclosure of standardized test information, including questions and correct answers, to test-takers. Sponsored by Ted Weiss, D-N.Y. House education committee held hearings on testing in July 21 and 22.

INFORMATION FOR MILITARY RECRUITING (S 1387). Would authorize the Department of Defense to collect information from high school directories for confidential use by military recruiters in informing potential enlistees about a military career and its benefits. Sponsored by Strom Thurmond, R- S.C., and pending in the judiciary committee, of which he is chairman.

SUBMINIMUM WAGE FOR YOUTHS (S 348, HR 2001). HR 2001 would allow employers to pay subminimum wages to workers under the age of 20. S 348 would allow lower wages for workers under the age of 19. The House bill is sponsored by Paul Simon, D.-Ill. The Senate bill’s sponsor, Orrin Hatch, D-Utah, is chairman of the Senate labor committee, which held hearings on the subminimum wage March 24 and 25.

FAMILY PROTECTION ( HR 3955, HR 311, S 1378). All three bills are versions of the Family Protection Act introduced in 1979 by Sen. Paul Laxalt, R-Nev. All would allow voluntary prayer in public schools; would permit parents to release children from parenting courses; would require that parents be notified when unmarried minors receive birth control from a federally-funded organization; would prevent the use of federal funds for educational materials that denigrate the role of women as it traditionally has been understood; would give local schools authority over the mixing of boys and girls in sports and other school activities; and would prevent Legal Services Corporation funds from being used for court action involving divorce, abortion, homosexuality, or school desegregation. S 1378 is sponsored by Roger Jepson, R-Iowa. HR 311 is sponsored by George Hansen, R-Idaho. HR 3955 is sponsored by Albert Smith, R-Ala.

ADOLESCENT SEXUAL ACTIVITY (S 1090). Would authorize $30 million for grants for adolescent pregnancy prevention programs aimed at increasing sexual self-discipline among young people, involving parents in managing teenage sexual behavior, presenting adoption as a positive option in adolescent pregnancies, and promoting research on the consequences of abortion and of long-term contraceptive use. Programs would find effective means, within the context of the family, of reaching adolescents before they become sexually active. Sponsored by Jeremiah Denton, R-Ala.

USE OF OLD SCHOOL BUILDINGS (HR 2121, HR 3856). HR 2121 would authorize the Department of Housing and Urban Development to make grants to school systems for the renovation of old school buildings. HR 3856 would require recipients of federal construction funds to study the possibility of using or renovating old buildings before beginning new construction. Both bills sponsored by Robert Garcia, D-N.Y.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GUIDANCE COUNSELING (S 928, HR 1598). House and Senate bills would amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to provide guidance counseling programs for elementary school students. Sponsored by Robert Stafford, R.-Vt., chairman of the Senate education subcommittee; and Carl Perkins, D.-Ky., chairman of the House education subcommittee.

BILLS ENACTED

BUDGET RECONCILIATION FOR FISCAL 1982 (Public Law 97-35). Compromise bill signed August 13 will consolidate 28 education programs into a $589-million package of block grants to states; will deregulate Title I and cap its authorization at $3.48 billion each year through 1984; and will reduce funding levels for most other federal education programs. Child nutrition programs will be reduced by $1.4 billion, including cuts in school-breakfast and nutrition-education programs. (House passed HR 3982 June 26; Senate passed S 1377 June 25. Both chambers passed conference committee report HR 97-208 July 31.)

ECONOMIC RECOVERY TAX ACT OF 1981 (Public Law 97-34). Omnibus tax cut bill signed August 13 includes a provision allowing taxpayers to take a deduction, in addition to the standard deduction, for contributions made to schools and other nonprofit institutions. Twenty-five percent of the first $100 in contributions can be deducted in 1982 and 1983, increasing to 25 percent of the first $300 in 1984. The full amount of charitable contributions can be deducted in 1985. Another provision raises the deduction for businesses that donate equipment to schools. (House passed HR 4242 July 29; Senate passed an amended version of that bill July 31. House passed conference report H Rep 94-176 August 3; Senate passed S Rep 97-215 August 4.)

A version of this article appeared in the September 07, 1981 edition of Education Week as Legislative Report

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