See How Your Politicians Voted
Title: Goals 2000: Educate America Act
Vote Smart's Synopsis:
Vote to adopt a conference report that establishes voluntary national standards for public education and appropriates funds for various educational development and change boards and grants.
Highlights:
- Declares that the national goals for education are school readiness, school completion, encouraging student achievement and citizenship, increasing teacher education and professional development, making the United States' students first in mathematics and science achievement, adult literacy and lifelong learning, creating safe disciplined and alcohol and drug-free schools, and creating strong school and home partnerships.
- Prohibits the use of funds to prevent voluntary prayer and meditation in public schools.
- Requires that all federally funded programs that distribute contraceptive devices to minors develop procedures to encourage family participation.
- Prohibits the use of funds to make assessments concerning decisions about graduation, grade promotion or retention of students.
- Requires that to receive assistance a local educational agency must have a one year expulsion policy if a student brought a firearm to school.
- Prohibits smoking in a facility that is used for educational or healthcare services to children.
- Establishes a National Education Goals Panel to submit an annual report on the United States' progress on the national education goals.
- Creates a National Education Standards and Improvement Council to develop and identify student performance standards and school performance on the voluntary national school content.
- Authorizes the Secretary of Education to make grants to nonprofit organizations that will provide training and information concerning educational needs and educational achievement to targeted parents.
- Establishes a National Skill Standards Board to identify groups of major occupations that involve industry in the United States and endorse skills standards systems that apply to those major occupations.
- $400 million for State and local education systemic improvements, primarily as grants to States that apply and indicate plans for restructuring and improvement of elementary and secondary education.
- $50 million for grants to schools to focus on making schools safe and free from drugs and alcohol.
- $10 million for the international education exchange program.
- $5 million for assessment development and evaluation grants.
- $3 million each for the National Education Goals Panel and the National Education Standards and Improvement Council.
- $2 million for Opportunity-To-Learn Development grants.