Bush Education Plan Passes in the House

December 2001 - By a 381-41 vote, the House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed President Bush's broad education plan that would require millions of students nationwide to take annual reading and math tests. Scores from those tests could affect how much federal funding schools get and how they spend it.

Senate passage was expected next week, which would allow President Bush to immediately sign the bill into law.

In addition to the testing, the bill requires schools:
• To come up with plans to close the achievement gap between low-income and middle-class students as well as gaps between white and minority students.
• Districts would have to submit annual report cards showing a school’s standardized test scores compared with others schools, both locally and statewide.
• Schools would have to test students with limited English skills in English after students had spent three consecutive years in a U.S. school.

The reading and math tests for students in grades three through eight would tell states which schools were effective. Those with persistently low test scores would have to give some of their federal aid to students for tutoring or transportation to another school.

More aid would flow to schools whose scores don't improve for two years in a row, but if scores don't improve afterward, a school could be restaffed.

The bill's authors say the program primarily focuses on the lowest-performing students, and that school districts can greatly reduce costs by running the programs themselves. It requires school districts to approve a list of public or private tutoring services.