Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2004-Continued

DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2004—CONTINUED

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am proud to cosponsor the Hispanic educational opportunities amendment which will help address the challenges facing Hispanic students from coast to coast.

I thank Senator Reid and Senator Bingaman for offering this amendment, and today I want to highlight how this bill will help so many people in our communities.

Just last month in Washington State, I saw once again how important education is to our entire state and especially to the Hispanic community.

On August 11, I had the opportunity to hold a day-long summit of Hispanic leaders in Yakima, WA. The turnout was overwhelming.

In one room, we brought together Hispanic elected officials from across the State, along with public and private-sector leaders, on a host of issues.

Congressman Ciro Rodriguez, the chairman of our Congressional Hispanic Caucus, served as a cohost, and shared his national perspective on the issues.

We had also had international leaders, including Peruvian Consul Miguel Velasquez and Mexican Consul Jorge Madrazo.

I am especially proud that we had more than a dozen panelists who shared their expertise and led our discussion.

I publicly thank each of our panelists for their time not only at the summit, but for dedicating their lives to helping the community. Many of them had to overcome significant barriers in their own lives, and today they are working to knock down barriers for all Hispanics. Their participation that day was just one example of the leadership they show every day of the year.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to print the names of the panelists in the Record.

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

EDUCATION PANELISTS

Miguel Puente, CAMP Director at Heritage College, Toppenish; Ricardo Sanchez, LEAP Director, Seattle; Armondo
Mungia, student at Eastern Washington University, Cheney; and Elizabeth Padilla Flynn, Pasco School District.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PANELISTS

Luz Bazan Gutlerrez, President & CEO, Rural Community Development Resources, Yakima; Veronica Yzquierdo, Executive Director, Pasco Downtown Development Association; Jesse Farias, Employment and Security, Wapato; and Gilberto Alaniz, State Director, Opportunities Industrialization Center.

CIVIL RIGHTS PANELISTS

Lupe Gamboa, United Farm Workers; Roberto Maestas, El Centro de La Raza, Seattle; Polo Aguilar, Grupo Mexico, Yakima; and Kevin Diaz, Attorney, Columbia Legal Services.

HEALTHCARE PANELISTS

Teresa Mosqueda, Sea Mar Representative, Public Health, Seattle; Kimberley Klint, Ph.D., Director of Mason Maters; Vickie Ybarra, Director Planning and Development, Yakima Farm Workers Clinic; Marisela Guzman, ConneX student, Toppenish; and Jesus Hernandez, Lead Access Coordinator/Program Manager, Community Choice, Wenatchee.

Mrs. MURRAY. I thank each of them for their leadership, and today I am on the Senate floor supporting this amendment to help carry out the agenda we discussed at the summit.

I can tell you that even though we covered a host of topics, including economic development, civil rights and healthcare, the
No. 1 topic people talked about was education.

I was astounded to listen as leaders in the community, elected school board members, and city council members told me that when they were growing up, very few people, if any, looked at them and said: "You know, you can be a success. You can pass first grade." Or that, "You can go on to college, and you can become something in this country."

If we adopt this amendment, we will tell a generation of young students: We need you. We need you to be the next generation of engineers. We need you to be the next generation of teachers. We need you to be the next generation of
C.E.O.s.

Today we are missing out on an entire young population, and what they can give back to this country someday in leadership, in economics, in paying taxes, and in being successful members of the community.

This amendment will help knock down the barriers facing Hispanic students, and we must adopt it.

Perhaps the most disturbing thing is that the underlying Labor-HHS bill we are debating cuts funding for critical Hispanic programs.

That is why we need this amendment to stop those cuts and provide funding for critical services like extra help with preschool, English language acquisition, tutoring, mentoring, and financial aid.

I want to highlight how this amendment will help in areas like Headstart, migrant education, and language skills.

One program that I have seen bring help—and hope—to families for decades is Head Start. This amendment will expand access to Head Start programs for migrant and seasonal working families.

Migrant and seasonal farmworkers work hard every day so that you and I can put affordable food on our tables. It is a good deal for us, but most of those families earn less than $10,000 a year. Many of their children pay a price beyond poverty.

When families don't have access to child care, they are forced to take their children into the fields with them, exposing them to equipment and other hazards.

Migrant and Seasonal Head Start programs meet the needs of these families, keeping their children safe while preparing them for school.

Nationwide, 60 percent of children are being served by Head Start, but for migrant children, it is just 19 percent and for children of seasonal workers, it is just 2 percent. That is unacceptable.

This amendment will boost the funding so we give more children of migrant and seasonal workers a place in Head Start so they can start school ready to learn.

This amendment does more than just increase funding to serve more children. It also makes sure that vulnerable children are not cut off from the help they are counting on.

The President's budget request slashed funding for the High School Equivalency Program, HEP, by 43 percent.

The appropriations bill before the Senate implements the President's cut, with a $10 million cut to HEP. It also cuts funding for the College Assistance Migrant Program, CAMP, by $400,000.

The funding cuts in the HEP program would eliminate the 23 oldest and best performing projects in the program, two of which are in Washington State.

I have met with the leaders of HEP and CAMP programs in Washington state. They are doing critical work at Heritage College and Washington State University HEP programs.

HEP provides education and counseling services to migrant students who have dropped out of high school so they can pass the GED examination.

Some of the 23 projects that could be closed down have been providing services for 30 years.

As a whole, 73 percent of their students received GEDs, an amazing success rate for a population of students who have already dropped out of school.

The CAMP program is also critical. It recruits talented migrant high school and GED graduates, who want to go on to college, but don't have the resources. These programs introduce parents and students to campus during the summer before their freshman year. It helps those students in their first year of college with personal and academic counseling, mentoring, and stipends.

Before we created CAMP programs, there was no record of a migrant child having completed college.

Since then, nearly three-quarters of all CAMP students have graduated with baccalaureate degrees. Without HEP and CAMP, access to college would be out of reach for the vast majority of migrant students.

The funding levels in this bill ignore the amazing successes we have had through HEP and CAMP.

Because migrant children move around, they don't have a local school, a school district, or even a State that is responsible for their education. We need to keep this safety net at the Federal level.

Currently, funding for the 102 HEP and CAMP projects can serve only 15,000 students, a small fraction of those who desperately need help. The Department of Education has estimated there are now over 750,000 school-aged migrant children.

Since migrant children have the highest dropout rate in the Nation, with nearly 60 percent failing to complete high school, that means that over the next 5 years, 170,000 of these children will drop out of school and be eligible for HEP services.

Over the next 5 years, 140,000 students will become eligible for CAMP services.

It makes no sense for this bill to take away funding when so many students need help.

Another area where our country cannot afford to make the cuts in this appropriations bill is in the English Language Acquisition program. This bill cuts the program by $20 million. That is unacceptable.

This amendment would restore that funding.

It will also increase support for limited English proficient, LEP, students to $750 million.

The number of LEP students has almost doubled over the past decade. It has increased at nearly eight times the rate of total student enrollment. The teachers who are serving those students could use more preparation to teach students with limited English proficiency.

This amendment will help provide title III dollars so that these teachers can receive ongoing professional development.

The Reid-Bingaman amendment will help students overcome barriers at almost every level of school.

Congress has a proud tradition of ensuring that our most disadvantaged kids get a shot at the American dream. It is what we did when we passed title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It is what we did when we created Head Start.
And it is what we did when we started giving out Pell Grants.

We need to carry on that tradition today, not out of charity, but because we recognize that these children are our bridge to a successful future.

I urge my colleagues to vote for this amendment and give Hispanic students in Washington State and around the country a change at the American dream and a better life.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

COMMUNITY ACCESS PROGRAM

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I've come to the floor today to discuss my disappointment that the chairman's mark zeros out funding for the Community Access Program, a community-based program that seeks to coordinate health care of the uninsured and underserved.

This development is especially disappointing because less than 8 months ago, the Senate overwhelmingly adopted my amendment to provide full funding for the CAP program in the FY 2003 Omnibus Appropriations bill.

Since early 2001, the current administration has targeted this program for elimination. It is difficult to understand why the
President's budget eliminate a program that seeks to get care for the uninsured at a time when the ranks of the uninsured continue to grow. As more and more families lost their insurance coverage, programs like CAP will become even more important.

The CAP program helps increase the capacity and effectiveness of community health care institutions and providers who serve patients regardless of their ability to pay.

The program supports community-based groups that coordinate care for the uninsured. CAP has been very successful, and it enjoys broad bipartisan support. The CAP program was authorized in October 2002 as part of the Health Care Safety Net Authorization bill, which was unanimously adopted by the Senate.

The purpose of the CAP program is spelled out in the Health Care Safety Net Authorization bill. Let me read from the Committee report.

The purpose is "to provide assistance to communities and to consortia of health care providers, in order to develop or strengthen an integrated health care deliver system that coordinates health services for individuals who are uninsured and individuals who are underinsured. And, to develop or strengthen activities related to providing coordinated care for individuals with chronic conditions."

I believe these are goals and objectives that we must achieve, but eliminating CAP will make this impossible.

I understand the fiscal pressures facing Chairman SPECTER, and I believe he has done the best job possible. But we are facing a major health care crisis in this country. I know the important role CAP can play in working to address this crisis.

Washington State has four CAP grantees. They have worked hard to expand access to quality, comprehensive care for those who have no health care safety net outside of the emergency room.

Washington's CAP grantees are based in Spokane, Wenatchee, Olympia and Seattle. As I've met with our CAP grantees, they've shown me a glimpse into the future of affordable health care.

For example, almost a year ago, I visited the Odessa Brown Children's Clinic in Seattle. I saw a doctor, a dentist and a psychologist all in the same room, not just treating individual body parts, but treating the whole child in a comprehensive, compassionate way.

Today that project—known as "Kids Get Care"—is connecting more than 3,000 children to comprehensive health care.

These efforts are making a real difference for low-income families, and they need more investment, not elimination.

Our CAP grantees have worked to ensure that our increased investment in Community Health Centers reaps the greatest benefit possible.

They have worked with vulnerable populations to tear down all barriers to care—not just economic barriers. They have used this small investment to better served the uninsured.

We should be strengthening efforts like this—not eliminating them.

Currently, one in nine Washington residents is uninsured. With my State's ongoing economic crisis, demand will grow for programs that provide care for the uninsured.

We need to meet the immediate needs of families who today can only access care in the Emergency Room.
CAP provides the seed money that gives community health care providers the ability to serve those who have nowhere else to go.

I had considered offering an amendment to restore full funding for CAP.

However, because of the budgetary constraints, to secure the votes needed, I would have to cut other vital Labor, HHS and
Education programs, many of which are already taking cuts.

Instead, I would like to yield to the chairman of the subcommittee for the purpose of engaging in a colloquy.
Chairman SPECTER, again let me stress my appreciation for your efforts. You have been given an almost impossible task.

The bottom line is our Subcommittee allocation for LHHS is simply not sufficient to meet the important priorities of labor, health care and education.

I know you did the best job possible, but I am asking for your support of CAP in conference.

When I raised this issue in the subcommittee markup, you indicated your willingness to work to ensure that this program is funded when the final bill emerges from conference.

Mr. SPECTER. It is true that we have not funded the Community Access Program. That program has traditionally been funded by the House, and let me assure you that it will be funded when we come out of conference. As the Senator from
Washington is aware, the House passed LHHS Appropriations bill allocates a total of $104.317 million for FY 2004 for the Community Access Program.

Mr. HARKIN. I want to echo the comments of my good friend from Pennsylvania and thank Senator MURRAY for bringing up this important issue. I, too, am very concerned by the President's elimination of this successful program. I look forward to working with Chairman SPECTER to restore funding in conference.

Mrs. MURRAY. I thank the chairman and ranking member of their support in conference, and as a conferee, I will continue to work with you to ensure the $104.317 million in FY 2004 for the Community Access Program.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, my amendment helps States implement the No Child Left Behind Act by providing $80 million for high quality data systems. I was proud to create this program as part of our reauthorization of the Institute of
Education Sciences last year because I saw a real need to help States do this right. Requiring lots of testing only has a benefit to our students if the results of those tests are used to help teachers focus their teaching on weak spots and to help superintendents, principals and policymakers direct resources where they are needed most.

Funding these data systems with this amendment will make sure that the testing and attendance data required by No Child
Left Behind are put to good use. Frankly, when I come down here to the Senate floor I usually prefer to talk about students, teachers and parents—not data systems. But it is clear to me that funding these data systems will do a lot more than buy computers and pay programmers. When I wrote this program I worked closely with the Harvard Civil Rights Project. They also see the danger to students—mostly poor and minority students—if no one is keeping track of what's happening to them.

All the new testing and accountability required in No Child Left Behind creates a real risk that kids who are having trouble passing those tests will drop out or be pushed out of school. The newspapers have been filled in recent months with stories of these so-called "pushouts"—students who are discouraged from completing school because their test scores are low and threaten the school's "adequate yearly progress."

The focus on this new phenomenon has raised serious questions about the "Texas Miracle" by pointing out the large numbers of students who are simply disappearing from our school systems. In July, the Houston Chronicle ran an article celebrating a new system—funded through a Federal grant—that is helping educators in Houston keep kids in school. They are using a data system to help lower their dropout rate, and they are definitely not the only ones who need help to do that.
The high quality, longitudinal, statewide data systems that this amendment would help build are one of the best tools we have to keep kids in school.

Information is a powerful tool, and only by knowing which students are not showing up can our schools make an effort to find those students and help them. There are a lot of challenges today to keeping our teenagers in school, and I am not saying that data systems are the only answer. In fact, I have introduced a whole bill focused on literacy and counseling and school reform to address many of the issues contributing to high dropout rates. But I know that funding these data systems can make a difference.

Over the last few years I have secured funds to help Washington State develop a data system that will truly support the mission of leaving no child behind by ensuring that every child is counted. The work they have done to develop a high-quality, statewide system is really impressive, and I know that they and other States across our country need this funding to make that possible.

I'd like to thank the Senators from New Hampshire and Nevada for working with me to fund this program. You can see that this is not a partisan issue. We need to pass this amendment and provide this funding to give States a critical tool to implement the No Child Left Behind Act. I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting funding for this program.

I ask unanimous consent to have two articles printed in the RECORD.

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

[From the Houston Chronicle, July 30, 2003]

TOOL TRACKS POTENTIAL DROPOUTS; PROFILER SOFTWARE LETS HISD KEEP TABS ON AT-RISK STUDENTS

(By Zanto Peabody)

The Houston school district has a high-tech new way to keep high school dropouts—by catching them before they leave.

With a new computer database available at every campus this fall, teachers can keep a virtual eye on every student and identify those at risk of leaving. For the first time, educators can look up a student's attendance and discipline records, immigration status, grades, and test scores at one source and use that information to predict dropouts.

"All students will know someone is watching them, tracking them, and is interested in their success," school board member Laurie Bricker said at a news conference Wednesday.

Houston Independent School District has been developing the PASS software—the Profiler for Academic Success of Students—for more than three years, Chief Academic Officer Robert Stockwell said, but recent events have underscored the need for it

Starting with an investigation of possible dropout-reporting fraud at Sharpstown High School and culminating with a state audit that may lower the district's accountability rating, HISD has come to know how badly it handles some student data.

"The dropout issue is a key battleground for our future," Stockwell said. "We must keep these students in school and learning. Failure is not an option."

The Sharpstown investigation showed that employee can and have changed student records to reflect lower dropout rates.
The state investigation and one by a district task force exposed computer records managed so badly that the district has no way of knowing where students have gone.

In an attempt to escape Texas Education Agency sanctions, HISD has promised to monitor students at risk of quitting. District officials also are considering a plan to assign an adult to each at-risk student.

Lee High School Principal Steve Amstutz said the newest version of the PASS program will make that task easier. During a demonstration of the program, Amstutz was able to determine which fictional students were likely dropout candidates—students who missed too many days recently or whose grades dropped suddenly.

"In the past, that would have taken a small army of people looking through obscure records," Amstutz said.
HISD Chief Business Officer Cathy Mincberg said the district developed its own program, using a $1.1 million federal grant, because no other school in the nation has such a comprehensive way of tracking students.

THE "ZERO DROPOUT" MIRACLE: ALAS! ALACK! A TEXAS TALL TALE

(By Michael Winerip)

HOUSTON, Aug. 13.—Robert Kimball, an assistant principal at Sharpstown High School, sat smack in the middle of the
"Texas miracle." His poor, mostly minority high school of 1,650 students had a freshman class of 1,000 that dwindled to fewer than 300 students by senior year. And yet—and this is the miracle—not one dropout to report!

Nor was zero an unusual dropout rate in this school district that both President Bush and Secretary of Education Rod Paige have held up as the national showcase for accountability and the model for the federal No Child Left Behind law. Westside
High here had 2,308 students and no reported dropouts; Wheatley High 731 students, no dropouts. A dozen of the city's poorest schools reported dropout rates under 1 percent.

Now, Dr. Kimball has witnessed many amazing things in his 58 years. Before he was an educator, he spent 24 years in the
Army, fighting in Vietnam, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel and touring the world. But never had he seen an urban high school with no dropouts. "Impossible," he said. "Someone will get pregnant, go to jail, get killed." Elsewhere in the nation, urban high schools report dropout rates of 20 percent to 40 percent.

A miracle? "A fantasy land," said Dr. Kimball. "They want the data to look wonderful and exciting. They don't tell you how to do it; they just say, 'Do it.' " In February, with the help of Dr. Kimball, the local television station KHOU broke the news that Sharpstown High had falsified its dropout data. That led to a state audit of 16 Houston schools, which found that of 5,500 teenagers surveyed who had left school, 3,000 should have been counted as dropouts but were not. Last week, the state appointed a monitor to oversee the district's data collection and downgraded 14 audited schools to the state's lowest rating.

Not very miraculous sounding, but here is the intriguing question: How did it get to the point that veteran principals felt they could actually claim zero dropouts? "You need to understand the atmosphere in Houston," Dr. Kimball said. "People are afraid. The superintendent has frequent meetings with principals. Before they go in, the principals are really, really scared. Panicky. They have to make their numbers."

Pressure? Some compare it to working under the old Soviet system of five-year plans. In January, just before the scandal broke, Abelardo Saavedra, deputy superintendent, unveiled Houston's latest mandates for the new year. "The districtwide student attendance rate will increase from 94.6 percent to 95 percent," he wrote. "The districtwide annual dropout rate will decrease from 1.5 percent to 1.3 percent."

Dropuots are notoriously difficult to track, particularly at a heavily Latino school like Sharpstown, with immigrants going back and forth to Mexico. Dr. Kimball said that Sharpstown shared one truant officer with several schools. Even so,
Houston officials would not allow principals to write that the whereabouts of a departed student were "unknown." Last fall, Margaret Stroud, deputy superintendent, sent a memorandum warning principals to "make sure that you do not have any students coded '99,' whereabouts unknown." Too many "unknowns," she wrote, could prompt a state audit—the last thing Houston leaders wanted.

A shortage of resources to track departing students? No "unknowns" allowed? What to do? "Make it up," Dr. Kimball said. "The principals who survive are the yes men."

As for those who fail to make their numbers, it is termination time, one of many innovations championed by Dr. Paige as superintendent here from 1994 to 2001. He got rid of tenure for principals and mandated that they sign one-year contracts that allowed dismissal "without cause" and without a hearing.

On the other hand, for principals who make their numbers, it is bonus time. Principals can earn a $5,000 bonus, district administrators up to $20,000. At Sharpstown High alone, Dr. Kimball said, $75,000 in bonus money was issued last year, before the fictitious numbers were exposed.

Dr. Paige's spokesman, Dan Langan, referred dropout questions to Houston officials, but said that the secretary was proud of the accountability system he established here, that it got results and that principals freely signed those contracts.

Terry Abbott, a Houston district spokesman, agreed that both Dr. Paige and the current superintendent, Kaye Stripling, pressured principals to make district goals. "Secretary Paige said, and rightfully so, the public has a right to expect us to get this job done," Mr. Abbott said. The principals were not cowed, he said, declaring, "They thrive on it." Every administrator under Dr. Paige and Dr. Stripling, Mr. Abbott said, has understood "failure is not an option" and "that failure to do our jobs can mean that we could lose those jobs—and that's exactly the way it should be."

As for adequate resources for truant officers to verify dropouts, he said individual schools decided how to use their resources, but added, "money is not the problem, and money by itself won't solve the issues we deal with every day."

To skeptics like Dr. Kimball, the parallels to No Child Left Behind are depressing. The federal law mandates that every child in America pass reading and math proficiency tests by 2004—a goal many educators believe is as impossible as zero dropouts. And like Houston's dropout program, President Bush's education budget has been criticized as an underfinanced mandate, proposing $12 billion this year for Title 1, $6 billion below what the No Child Left Behind law permits. "This isn't about educating children," Dr. Kimball said. "It's about public relations."

If Houston officials were interested in accountability, he said, they would assign him to a high school to monitor the dropout data that he has come to understand so well. Instead, after he blew the whistle on Sharpstown High, he was reassigned, for four months, to sit in a windowless room with no work to do. More recently, he has been serving as the second assistant principal at a primary school, where, he said, he is not really needed. "I expect when my contract is up next January, I'll be fired," he said. "That's how it works here."