Your Congressional Delegation is home in August, and will return to D.C. in September for the last push to make a legislative mark before elections. Now is a perfect time to meet with them, or with their staff, on education legislation that affects the quality of programming that children receive.  

Find out what your members' schedules are for the next few weeks. If they have time to meet with you, great. If not, you may want to attend one of the events that they have scheduled and provide input there, and/or you may want to meet with staff members. 

One of the key concerns we would ask you to share with your members is that neither the Senate nor the House should be expanding the Education Flexibility Demonstration Project at this time. Expansion of "Ed-Flex" as it is called, has the potential to seriously undermine current and future efforts to hold states, districts, and schools accountable for quality education. It would give all 50 states the ability to grant waivers to local schools and school districts so that they did not have to comply with certain federal requirements, including much of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act.  

Currently, the Ed Flex demonstration project gives only 12 states this ability to waive federal requirements. There has been no demonstration of its success, nor any real discussion of the potential dangers of the program. For instance, no one has asked: 

-- What are the real barriers to school reform?  

-- How are low-income children and children with limited English proficiency served or dis-served by Ed-Flex waivers? 

-- Why should a State be allowed to waive provisions of the law which require schools to provide such core educational conditions as an effective instruction, an accelerated and enriched curriculum, timely and effective individual help, and high quality teachers? (These provisions are found in the school level requirements of Title I, and can be waived by Ed-Flex). 

-- Why should States be allowed to waive provisions of laws which were created with a widely accepted vision of school reform, and which have never been fully implemented and enforced? 

We ask you to ask your members these questions, and to insist that they ask first what would happen if the laws were being enforced and implemented (which they are not), and then to think about whether waivers are necessary. Only then can they craft provisions which ensure that States, schools, and districts are held accountable for providing a good education for all students.  

SENATORS: The expansion of Ed Flex in the Senate can be found in S. 2213, "The Education Flexibility Amendments of 1998." Tell your Senators to vote NO on S. 2213! 
 

REPRESENTATIVES: The expansion of Ed Flex in the House is found in H.R. 3248 and is part of a radical block grant proposal entitled "Dollars to the Classroom Act." Dollars to the Classroom block grants thirty one federal education programs, including School to Work, Eisenhower, Comprehensive School Reform, and Education for Homeless Children, totaling about $2.7 billion dollars with no accountability for use. It expands Ed-Flex to all 50 states without safeguards. It also expands the ability of Title I schools to become "school wide schools" even when they have fewer than 50% low income students. Tell your representatives that you need their help in defeating Dollars to the Classroom, H.R. 3248, and in voting no if it comes to the floor.  

Please call (202-986-3000) or e-mail (cle@cleweb.org) Christine Stoneman at the Center for Law and Education if you would like help planning or thinking through your conversations with Congress on these issues. We also have more written information on Ed Flex that we would be pleased to provide. 

Thank you for your advocacy efforts on behalf of the right of all children to a high quality education! We look forward to hearing how your meetings go!  

Posted August 20, 1998