The Goals 2000 "Educate America" bill, enacted in the 103rd Democrat controlled Congress in January 1994, announced lofty goals but, since passage, has increasingly been under fire. To better inform you about this lengthy bill, which alters America's traditional ideas about who is in control of schools, we are devoting considerable space to it.
In Title I: of the bill, its purpose is identified as improving learning and teaching by " providing a national framework for education reform; to promote the research, consensus building, and systemic changes needed to ensure equitable educational opportunities and high levels of educational achievement for all students; to provide a framework for reauthorization of all Federal education programs; to promote the development and adoption of a voluntary national system of skill standards and certifications; and for other purposes."
To achieve these lofty sounding goals, the Congress states that: "all children will have access to high-quality and developmentally appropriate preschool programs that help prepare children for school;
(Note that parents will.. ensure that schools are "adequately supported." There is no mention of the schools supporting the parents.)
Title II, section 202 sets us the National Education Goals Panel, a sort of national school board, composed of presidential appointees, members of Congress and governors who are to "report to the President, the Secretary, and the Congress regarding the progress the Nation and the States are making toward achieving the National Education Goals established under title I of this Act, including issuing an annual report;" (An interesting role reversal. Once schools knew their survival depended upon reporting to the parents. Now the schools merely have to satisfy big government in Washington.)
Title II, section 207 required the Goals Panel to "improve the methods of assessing the readiness of children for school that would lead to alternatives to currently used early childhood assessments." (Schools once planned to meet the needs of the children. With Goals 2000, the children must plan to meet the needs of the schools.)
Title III, section 301 states, in part, that "Congress finds that... (7) State and local education improvement efforts must incorporate strategies for providing all students and families with coordinated access to appropriate social services, health care, nutrition, and early childhood education, and child care to remove preventable barriers to learning and enhance school readiness for all students." (The State and Local governments must incorporate health care, nutrition and pre-school education for our children? I thought that was what parents do. Does that mean that, under Goals 2000, I can expect a state worker to show up at my door everytime my child gets hungry or sick?
Title IV, section 403, outlines how parents who receive grants under the bill can use the funds "(1) for parent training, information, and support programs that assist parents to " plan, implement, and fund activities that coordinate the education of their children with other Federal programs that serve their children or their families; (In other words, these funds will help people benefit from other freebies paid for by the taxpayer.)
Title V establishes a National Skill Standards Board with 28 members, including the secretaries of labor, commerce and education, to "to serve as a catalyst in stimulating the development and adoption of a voluntary national system of skill standards and of assessment and certification of attainment of skill standards" (This is the third expensive "board" set up by this legislation. We already have a couple of "voluntary" national skill standards" groups - ACT and SAT tests taken voluntarily by high school students all over America to see how proficient they are in basic learning skills. These achievement tests have a long and PRIVATELY FUNDED history.)
Title VI is to " help local school systems achieve Goal Six of the National Education Goals, which provides that by the year 2000, every school in America will be free of drugs and violence and will offer a disciplined environment conducive to learning, by ensuring that all schools are safe and free of violence." (To achieve that admirable goal, the bill appropriates "$75,000,000 for fiscal year 1994, $100,000,000 for fiscal year 1995, and such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 1996," to provide grants to school districts. To get a grant, the schools have to prove they are violent and drug ridden. The grant money is then used to "identify and assess school violence, conduct school safety reviews, planning the involvement and coordination of school programs with other education, law enforcement, judicial, health, social service and other appropriate agencies and organization; training school personnel in "conflict resolution and anger management" and financing video projects about the local school safety program, the need for community support, teaching "peer mediation" and to support "safe zones of passage' for students between home and school through such measures as Drug- and Weapon-Free School Zones, enhanced law enforcement, and neighborhood patrols. Another use of grant money is for "educating students and parents regarding the dangers of guns and other weapons and the consequences of their use.") (We are going to use tax money to teach students and parents that guns can hurt people? For heavens sake, the kids know better than anyone else how dangerous guns are. That's why they have them.)
Title VII details the establishment of Midnight Basketball Leagues , in which grants "not less than $55,000" are used to establish a basketball league of "not less than 8 teams having 10 players each." Not less than 50 percent of the players in the basketball league "shall be residents of federally assisted low-income housing" and must show that they are in a neighborhood with: `(i) A substantial problem regarding use or sale of illegal drugs.; `(ii) A high incidence of crimes committed by youths or young adults; `(iii) A high incidence of persons infected with the human immunodeficiency virus or sexually transmitted diseases. `(iv) A high incidence of pregnancy or a high birth rate, among adolescents. `(v) A high unemployment rate for youths and young adults. `(vi) A high rate of high school drop-outs." These leagues were given an appropriation of $2,650,000 in each of fiscal years 1994 and 1995; years 1994 and 1995. (Law abiding youth need not apply. Only youth who can show they are into crime and other irresponsible behavior are eligible for tax financed midnight basketball leagues and equipment.)
Title VIII, Section 801, is "to help local communities achieve Goal Six of the National Education Goals, which provides that by the year 2000, every school in America will be free of drugs and violence and will offer a disciplined environment conducive to learning, by strengthening local disciplinary control." It notes that "3,000,000 crimes occur on or near school campuses every year, with 16,000 crimes occurring per school day or one crime occurring every 6 seconds;" By the year 2000, according to this bill, there will be no drugs or crime on any school campus. To achieve this miracle Goals 2000 declares that " (a) LOCAL DISCIPLINE CONTROL: No Federal law or regulation, except education and civil rights laws protecting individuals with disabilities, or State policy implementing such a Federal law or regulation, shall restrict any local educational agency, or elementary or secondary school, from developing and implementing disciplinary policies and action with respect to criminal or violent acts of students, occurring on school premises, in order to create an environment conducive to learning; (b) SHARED INFORMATION- No Federal law or regulation, or State policy implementing such a Federal law or regulation, shall restrict any local educational agency or elementary or secondary school from requesting and receiving information from a State agency, local educational agency, or an elementary or secondary school regarding a conviction or juvenile adjudication, within five years of the date of the request, or a pending prosecution for a violent or weapons offense, of a student who is attending an elementary or secondary school served by the local educational agency, or the elementary or secondary school, requesting such information. (c) PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY- It is the policy of the Congress that States, in cooperation with local educational agencies, schools, and parent groups, should be encouraged to enforce disciplinary policies with respect to parents of children who display criminal or violent behavior toward teachers, students, other persons, or school property. (The 103rd Congress must be kidding. They can't really believe this is going to stop drugs and crime in the schools.)
Title IX 1)Establishes " the Office of Educational Research and Improvement are to-(1) assess, promote, and improve the quality and equity of education in the United States (2) provide new directions for federally supported research and development activities (3) collect, analyze, and disseminate statistics and other data related to education in the United States and other nations; (4) make available to the Congress .. the results of research. (That's all we need. Another tax supported group looking for an excuse to exist by counting something.)
Title X cover a number of items, including Sec. 1018 Contraceptive Devices, which states, " The Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education shall ensure that all federally funded programs which provide for the distribution of contraceptive devices to unemancipated minors develop procedures to encourage, to the extent practical, family participation in such programs." (Schools that distribute contraceptive devices to unemancipated minors should be sued for complicity in encouraging the crime of statutory rape. Over 80% of the fathers of babies born to minor girls are over the age of 18. After all the supposed concern about eliminating "crime" in public schools, the 103rd Congress finalizes Goals 2000 by subsidizing statutory rape. This law just needs to be repealed.)