A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

U.S. Department of Educatio n Legislative Update

Legislative Update

October 23, 1997

[ A Message from Carol Rasco Director | Statement by U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley ]

A MESSAGE FROM CAROL RASCO, DIRECTOR
Good news this week for the America Reads Challenge -- on Wednesday, October 22, Chairman Goodling and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce voted the "Reading Excellence Act" out of committee, moving it one step closer to a final vote on the House floor. A few issues still need to be resolved through bi-partisan negotiation, however we are confidant that a final bill will move forward sometime soon.

The "Reading Excellence Act" is Chairman Goodling's alternative to the America Reads Challenge Act, and represents weeks of bi-partisan negotiations. The Act would provide for State Reading and Literacy Partnership grants that would include subgrants under two streams: local reading improvement subgrants and tutorial assistance subgrants.

The local reading subgrants represent a balanced approach to reading instruction that ensures schools can improve in-school reading programs and provide children with extended learning opportunities in reading through after-school, weekend, or summer tutoring programs. Local programs:

  • would be required to leverage existing federal dollars for improvement of professional development for reading teachers;
  • would be allowed to use funds to provide additional needed dollars for professional development;
  • could use funds to train tutors and provide extended learning time opportunities in reading.

The tutorial assistance subgrants (TAGs) represent that part of the bill that needs to be resolved before the bill is sent to the floor. These grants would be given to local educational agencies (LEAs) who would compile a list of qualified tutoring programs, then provide the list to parents who would select a tutoring program for their child. LEA's would reimburse the tutorial program on a per-child basis for tutoring services. TAGs are voucher-like grants which are:

  • extremely costly, estimated to cost three times the amount of the America Reads tutoring approach;
  • bureaucratic, requiring the LEA to maintain a list of programs and monitor them;
  • disconnected, as TAGs could create under-funded, low-quality in-school programs and a plethora of out-of-school tutoring programs which might not be connected to in-school reading instruction.

The Administration and many Democrats in Congress are opposed to TAGs as a separate required grant within the bill. Secretary Riley issued a statement (included below) applauding the Committee for its bi-partisan efforts, and encouraging them to continue to work together to produce a bill that helps many more children become good and independent readers.

One additional piece of good news I want to share with you is the success of the White House event on the Federal Work-Study component of the America Reads Challenge that took place on Tuesday, Oct. 21, in the East Room. President Clinton was joined by college and university presidents representing the more than 800 institutions signed on to America Reads who are providing tutors to their local pre-schools and elementary schools. The President was introduced by a FW-S student from Georgetown University who participates in the America Reads Challenge tutoring program. He then read a book with a second grade student who is paired with a FW-S student in Washington, DC. The text of President Clinton's remarks can be found on the America Reads Challenge web site at http://www.ed.gov/inits/americareads/arc-fwsi.html

Carol H. Rasco

STATEMENT BY U. S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION RICHARD W. RILEY -- On Committee on Education and the Workforce Passage of Children's Reading Initiative -- October 22, 1997

"I am pleased that Chairman Goodling and members of the Committee voted to pass the Reading Excellence Act, a bi-partisan bill that moves us one step closer to helping many more children read well and independently by the end of the third grade.

"I know there is still more hard work to be done to reach complete agreement on some areas of the legislation. I am grateful that the Committee is committed to fulfilling the balanced budget agreement that supports this effort to help children master this critical basic skill.

"We will continue to work closely with Chairman Goodling's Committee to ensure that a quality child literacy initiative will be passed and implemented that meets the agreed upon goal set forth in the balanced budget agreement to fund a child literacy initiative consistent with the President's America Reads Challenge program."

The America Reads Challenge
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