August 27, 1976
Page 28178
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there be printed in the RECORD a statement on the pending bill by the senior Senator from Minnesota (Mr. MONDALE).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
STATEMENT OF SENATOR MONDALE ON EDUCATION AMENDMENTS OF 1976
As a member of the Education Subcommittee, I begin by expressing my appreciation to Senator Pell, chairman of the subcommittee, for his tireless work on behalf of this bill. Under his leadership, the subcommittee worked for two years on this bill, holding 15 days of hearings and several markups. I also compliment Senator Williams, chairman of the Labor and Public Welfare Committee, and Senators Javits and Beall for their important roles in developing this important legislation.
During the hearings, we explored such key issues as student aid, continuing education, teacher training and vocational education.
We looked at ways of improving existing programs and developing new programs to meet new needs. I am proud to have served as a member of the subcommittee which prepared this legislation, the enactment of which I regard as vital to the continued growth of American education.
S. 2657 amends and extends the various programs authorized under the Higher Education Act of 1965, and the Vocational Education Act of 1963. It also authorizes important new programs, including post-secondary continuing education, lifelong learning, and teacher centers. This legislation will significantly increase access to higher education by broadening student aid programs, and offers hope of solution of problems that developed in the implementation of the Guaranteed Student Loan Program.
The Committee bill also improves existing vocational education programs and includes new authorities for projects which would assist in overcoming sex bias and for expanded bilingual vocational training. Funds are also authorized for vocational programs in areas with high concentrations of unemployed youths, and for persons who are disadvantaged. The bill extends the Emergency School Aid Act and the Emergency Insured Student Loan. Act of 1869. It creates new and expanded programs for career education and guidance and counseling programs. It also reorganizes the Education Division of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and extends authority for the Fund for the Improvement of Post-secondary Education and the National Institute of Education through FY 82.
I am especially pleased that the bill includes several programs and amendments which I authored and to which I am deeply committed. Perhaps the most promising of these is the new provision for a national strategy to offer "lifelong learning" opportunities to all Americans. The concept of lifelong learning is still being defined by the many individuals, organizations and institutions which are committed to shaping our educational system to meet the constantly changing educational needs of our country. For the purposes of this legislation., it is defined as including, but not being limited to, a variety of existing programs — adult education, continuing education and many others.
The new program authorized by this legislation would assist us in monitoring and assessing the many federally supported educational programs for adults; and would provide for similar assessments by the states. The U.S. Office of Education would also be required to examine the policies of other countries which have already developed programs of paid educational leave or similar arrangements which provide such opportunities for their citizens.
This new authority would also provide support for a variety of projects for the "development, testing and demonstration of better ways to meet the lifelong learning needs of adults", including training and retraining people to be educators and counselors for adults, curriculum development, and development of guidance and counseling techniques.
The original inspiration for this provision was the "Minnesota Learning Society," a unique project in which many of the fine educational institutions in my home state are participating. The initial focus of the "Minnesota Learning Society" has been on expanding opportunities for elderly learners. But the concept behind this program as well as behind the provisions in this bill offers hope for many groups in our society — women who require additional education or retraining in order to keep up with scientific and technological developments in their fields; and the many Americans who will want to expand their horizons through education as they have increased leisure time.
In short, the provisions in this bill represent a significant first step toward development of a long range national policy of educational opportunity for all of us. If they are enacted, Congress should receive by January 1, 1978 a series of legislative recommendations on how a national policy of lifelong learning might best be implemented.
Another area of increasing concern to those of us committed to high quality in our educational system is continuing education for teachers. Teaching is a very special profession which demands that its members keep up with new ideas and teaching methods. The knowledge explosion of recent years has placed growing and changing demands on schools and their teachers. This has resulted in the establishment of programs known as "teach centers", which provide the continuing education that teachers want and need.
These centers are intended to meet the professional needs of local teachers as defined by teacher center policy boards. Such programs may include but are not limited to curriculum development, skill training, introduction to new teaching methods, and exchange of information or new ideas.
The teacher center provision of this bill, which I cosponsored with Senator Cranston, is an important step toward strengthening and expanding the work of these types of centers. It authorizes the Commissioner of Education to make grants to local educational agencies to assist them in planning, establishing, and operating teacher centers. In addition, institutions of higher education may receive 10% of the funds under this amendment to operate teacher centers.
This new program would recognize the fine work already done by the teacher center movement, and their contribution to the promotion of quality education.
The 1976 amendments also address a problem which has been of great concern to me — the tremendous cost squeeze of post-secondary education on middle income families. As tuition and other costs of attendance continue to rise, many middle income families are finding the costs of post-secondary education slipping beyond their means. We are approaching a situation in which only the very wealthy or those relatively few lower income students who can get complete scholarship packages will be able to afford the costs of higher education.
I am therefore pleased that the Committee adopted my amendment to increase the level of adjusted gross family income which qualifies for the federal interest payment to the Guaranteed Student Loan Program from its present $15,000 to $25,000. Under this program the federal government pays the interest on a student loan while the student is in college.
Congress established the GSL program in 1967 especially for middle income families. Since that time the Consumer Price Index has increased by 85% but the $15,000 ceiling has remained unchanged. As a result, many middle income families are no longer eligible for the federal interest payment. This amendment reverses this decline in eligibility due to inflation and restores the original focus of the program to include these middle income families. I believe that it is an important first step toward recognition by Congress of this serious problem.
I am also pleased that this bill contains an amendment which is designed to coordinate the educational resources of the various states. States have often felt the need to invest their scarce education resources in the development of specialized programs, even though the same programs are sometimes available in neighboring states. Often these expensive programs serve only limited enrollment and have led to inefficiencies and higher costs.
Section 177 of this bill would encourage cooperative educational projects — which would maximize the effects of scarce resources — on an interstate or regional basis. It authorizes an additional $2 million to be available to the existing State Post-secondary Education Commission designated to plan the use of post-secondary education resources in each state. These grants will be used to plan, develop, and implement cooperative educational projects.
In the area of vocational education, one of the problems identified by the Committee in this session has been the need to open up programs to members of both sexes.
While in recent years women have comprised over half of the enrollees in vocational education, a large majority of them have been confined to programs which are not designed to develop marketable skills, and to "women's fields", which often lead to low paying, dead end jobs.
A General Accounting Office report on vocational education found that some states have practices that actually discourage women from preparing for nontraditional work roles. Some catalogs for vocational programs, for example, used the exclusive pronoun "he" for nearly all subjects, and used the exclusive pronoun "she" when describing secretarial and nursing courses. Another study noted that no woman is currently employed as a state director of vocational education or a state supervisor outside the field of business, distribution, health, or home economics.
Evidence such as this stimulated me to work with a number of interested education and women's organizations to develop some amendments designed to make our existing vocational education programs more responsive to the needs of women, and to eliminate the sex stereotyping which unnecessarily limits the employment horizons of both men and women. Among these amendments are a requirement that each state create an office for women which would monitor programs and take positive steps to make them available to and responsive to the needs of members of both sexes. The bill also provides for a new authority of $5 million to support special projects which show promise of overcoming sex stereotyping in vocational education.
The bill before us today represents the Committee's attempt to improve the quality of education in this country and provide access to education to all Americans, regardless of their age, sex or socioeconomic status. I urge my colleagues to give it their most enthusiastic support.