WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Breaking with President Bush's classroom reform plan, the Senate voted on Thursday to nearly quadruple funding for bilingual education programs and to help states set certain standards for student testing in spite of White House calls for fiscal restraint.
The votes came as the House of Representatives prepared to open debate as early as next week on a similar education measure, which supporters called the most sweeping blueprint for classroom reform in 35 years.
Both the House and the Senate bills would test students each year and hold states and school districts accountable for their performance -- signature issues for Bush during last year's presidential campaign.
The bills do not, however, include the president's hotly contested voucher initiative, which would have given students in poor-performing schools up to $1,500 in federal aid to attend religious and other private institutions.
Instead, they would allow students in failing schools to use federal funding to pay for private tutoring or transfer to another public school.
Nevertheless, conservative Republicans said they would offer private school vouchers as an amendment to the education bill on the House floor. Bush has already said he would back them in the effort.
But even supporters of private school vouchers saw little chance the amendment would pass given opposition from Democrats and many moderate Republicans who argue vouchers would siphon off funding from cash-strapped public schools.
"The political reality is that I don't think the votes are there ... . I don't think the support is there," House Republican Conference Chairman J.C. Watts of Oklahoma told Reuters.
VICTORY FOR DEMOCRATS
In a victory for Democrats, the Senate voted 50-47 on Thursday to amend a cornerstone of Bush's education plan -- annual student testing.
Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota said the changes would ensure states use course work, essays and other measures to evaluate student performance, rather than a single multiple-choice test. To assist states and school districts in meeting these standards, the amendment calls for Congress to free up an additional $200 million in fiscal 2002.
But supporters of Bush's plan said it included enough funding as well as language to hold states to national testing standards.
"We don't think it has the sweeping impact that he (Wellstone) thinks it has," one Republican aide said.
The Senate also backed an amendment by Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas calling on Congress to boost funding from $750 million in fiscal 2002 to $2.8 billion in 2008 for language instruction and other services targeting immigrant students.
Supporters said the funding would largely benefit Hispanic children, a group expected to make up one out of four of the school-age population by the year 2030.
"We must see that these children receive the quality education they deserve," said Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, a Texas Democrat.
The 62-34 vote for bilingual education was the latest in a string of victories for Democrats, who have accused Bush of committing insufficient resources to his top legislative priority.
Next week Senate Democrats hope to push through another batch of amendments, setting aside billions of dollars more to hire teachers, reduce class sizes and boost school construction.
The White House has urged senators to stick to Bush's budget plan.
Reuters May 10 2001 8:01PM