Gop Pushes Local Decision-Making Says Federal Funds Should Go Directly To School Districts

Republican legislative leaders endorsed on Wednesday efforts by U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton to drive $10 billion in federal funds directly into local classrooms without any strings.

Gorton, a member of the Senate Budget Committee and counsel to Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., told a joint news conference he’s trying to win public support that will translate into pressure on Congress and President Clinton to approve a massive shift in decision-making to local school districts.

Clinton, who threatened a veto last year after Gorton pushed his plan through the U.S. Senate in a 51-49 vote, has not warmed to the idea. But Gorton says the issue can be won in the court of public opinion and that the president might relent.

Gorton’s plan is to turn most federal education dollars into block grants that would go to local districts, bypassing both federal and state governments. Local school boards would decide how to use the money with few restrictions.

The proposal fits with Republicans’ goal of decentralizing education decisions, said state Senate Majority Leader Dan McDonald, R-Bellevue, and House Speaker Clyde Ballard, R-East Wenatchee.

They rejected criticism that legislative Republicans’ stress on phonics instruction amounts to a statemandated curriculum. Only districts that voluntarily seek state reading grants will have to follow the requirement, they said.

Ballard rejected Democratic legislators’ contention that Republicans want to act as a giant state school board, much as the GOP accuses the federal government of doing.

Many of the regulations that hamstring local districts are imposed by federal programs, the three Republicans said. McDonald unfurled a 43-foot-long computer printout showing the paper trail required for each student served by federal special-education dollars.

“Right now, Washington, D.C., supplies only 7 percent of education spending, but it imposes 50 percent of the rules and regulations,” Gorton said. “My plan would eliminate the bureaucracy and allow teachers, principals and school board members to set education policy.”

Gorton said he has no desire to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, as some Republicans have proposed. But he said it would be greatly reduced and become less paternalistic if his plan goes through.

Congress and the president concluded last year that “one-size-fits-all” doesn’t work for welfare programs and states were allowed to craft approaches that fit their specific needs, Gorton said. The same argument holds true for the schoolhouse, he said. “The priorities are very different for Wenatchee than they are in New York City.”

Gorton said several governors are interested in block grants but want the money to be parceled out by states, not directly to local districts. He said he’d accept that as an intermediate approach if he can’t get all aspects of his bill through Congress.

On Tuesday, the state Senate approved McDonald’s resolution to Congress and the White House, endorsing Gorton’s bill.