"Today we have approved far-reaching changes to our nation''s education laws that will chart a new course for our schools in the 21st century," said Senator Collins. "These groundbreaking reforms will raise the bar for student achievement, and hold schools accountable for helping students achieve the new standards. Simply put, we are making a fundamental change in our expectations of everyone involved in the education of our children."
S. 1, or the Better Education for Students and Teachers (BEST) Act, will establish regular proficiency tests for school children, and set performance standards for schools. Maine school districts with fewer than 600 students — more than half of the schools in the State of Maine – will benefit in particular from a rural education provision authored by Senator Collins and accepted today by the conference committee. The provision gives rural school districts more flexibility in the use of federal funds by allowing them to combine small, categorical funding streams into a single grant that can be used to target local needs. It also authorizes $300 million in additional funding for rural schools to be administered through a grant program. Each rural school that applies for the funding will receive a minimum of $20,000 and can receive up to $60,000 based on enrollment. The flexibility provided by the Rural Education Initiative will help rural school districts meet the higher expectations and improved achievement demanded by the BEST Act. The bill also contains an early reading provision authored by Senator Collins. The Reading First program, which builds upon an early literacy program advocated by President Bush, is a cooperative approach that calls upon the federal government, states, and school districts to work together to help students learn to read. It targets competitive grants to programs that help children who read below grade level. The conference committee scuttled a provision to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that Senator Collins helped craft and win passage of in the — more — Senate-passed education bill. Collins helped preserve the Senate''s bipartisan consensus on the issue during the conference negotiations among Senate conferees. Members of the conference committee from the House of Representatives, however, defeated the proposal and thwarted attempts to forge a compromise.
"I am extremely disappointed that we were unable to convince our colleagues from the House of Representatives to make good on the promise made by the federal government 26 years ago to fully fund the federal share of special education costs," said Senator Collins. "This proposal would have meant almost $550 million in additional education dollars for Maine schools over the next ten years. Despite this major setback, I will continue to fight for full funding of special education."
The House and Senate must now approve the conference report adopted today, and are expected to do so before they adjourn for the year. The President has said he intends to sign the bill by Christmas.