FLEXIBILITY, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND 

QUALITY EDUCATION 

HEARING

BEFORE THE 

COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND 

THE WORKFORCE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

HEARING HELD IN BRADENTON, FLORIDA, FEBRUARY 16, 2001 

Serial No. 107-1 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Education 

and the Workforce

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office 

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: (202) 512-1800 FAX: (202) 512-2250 

Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001
ii

COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE 

JOHN A. BOEHNER, Ohio, Chairman 

THOMAS E. PETRI, Wisconsin GEORGE MILLER, California 

MARGE ROUKEMA, New Jersey DALE E. KILDEE, Michigan 

CASS BALLENGER, North Carolina MAJOR R. OWENS, New York 

PETER HOEKSTRA, Michigan DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey 

HOWARD P. “BUCK” McKEON, California PATSY MINK, Hawaii 

MICHAEL N. CASTLE, Delaware ROBERT E. ANDREWS, New Jersey 

SAM JOHNSON, Texas TIM ROEMER, Indiana 

JAMES C. GREENWOOD, Pennsylvania ROBERT C. “BOBBY” SCOTT, Virginia 

LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina LYNN C. WOOLSEY, California 

MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana LYNN N. RIVERS, Michigan 

CHARLIE W. NORWOOD, JR., Georgia RUBEN HINOJOSA, Texas 

BOB SCHAFFER, Colorado CAROLYN McCARTHY, New York 

FRED UPTON, Michigan JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts 

VAN HILLEARY, Tennessee RON KIND, Wisconsin 

VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan LORETTA SANCHEZ, California 

THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado HAROLD E. FORD, JR., Tennessee 

ERNIE FLETCHER, Kentucky DENNIS KUCINICH, Ohio 

JIM DeMINT, South Carolina DAVID WU, Oregon 

JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia RUSH D. HOLT, New Jersey 

JUDY BIGGERT, Illinois HILDA A. SOLIS, California 

TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania SUSAN DAVIS, California 

PATRICK J. TIBERI, Ohio BETTY McCOLLUM, Minnesota 

RIC KELLER, Florida 

TOM OSBORNE, Nebraska 

JOHN ABNEY CULBERSON, Texas 

Paula Nowakowski, Chief of Staff 

John Lawrence, Minority Staff Director 
iii

Table of Contents 

Table of Contents...........................................................................................................iii

OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN JOHN BOEHNER, COMMITTEE ON 

EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES . 2 

OPENING STATEMENT OF RANKING MEMBER GEORGE MILLER, 

COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE, U.S. HOUSE OF 

REPRESENTATIVES.................................................................................................... 3 

STATEMENT OF CHARLIE CRIST, COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION, 

FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA ........... 4 

STATEMENT OF JAMES WARFORD, SUPERINTENDENT, MARION COUNTY 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS, OCALA, FLORIDA.................................................................... 7 

STATEMENT OF FRANK TILL, JR., SUPERINTENDENT, BROWARD COUNTY 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS, FT. LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA ................................................ 9 

STATEMENT OF BERTHA ZAPATA, TEACHER, BROWARD ELEMENTARY 

SCHOOL, TAMPA, FLORIDA ................................................................................... 11 

STATEMENT OF SONIA TREJO, PARENT, BRADENTON, FLORIDA............... 13 

STATEMENT OF DEBRA ROBINSON, SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER, DISTRICT 

1, WEST PALM BEACH COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, WEST PALM BEACH, 

FLORIDA ..................................................................................................................... 14 

APPENDIX A - WRITTEN OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN JOHN 

BOEHNER, COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE, U.S. 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ............................................................................. 37 

APPENDIX B - WRITTEN STATEMENT OF CHARLIE CRIST, COMMISSIONER 

OF EDUCATION, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, TALLAHASSEE, 

FLORIDA ..................................................................................................................... 45 

APPENDIX C - WRITTEN STATEMENT OF JAMES WARFORD, 

SUPERINTENDENT, MARION COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS, OCALA, 

FLORIDA ..................................................................................................................... 53 

APPENDIX D - WRITTEN STATEMENT OF FRANK TILL, JR., 

SUPERINTENDENT, BROWARD COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS, FT. 

LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA ....................................................................................... 61 

APPENDIX E - WRITTEN STATEMENT OF BERTHA ZAPATA, TEACHER, 

BROWARD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, TAMPA, FLORIDA.................................. 75 
iv

APPENDIX F - WRITTEN STATEMENT OF SONIA TREJO, PARENT, 

BRADENTON, FLORIDA........................................................................................... 81 

APPENDIX G - WRITTEN STATEMENT OF DEBRA ROBINSON, SCHOOL 

BOARD MEMBER, DISTRICT 1, WEST PALM BEACH COUNTY SCHOOL 

DISTRICT, WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA.......................................................... 87 

Table of Indexes............................................................................................................ 94
1

HEARING ON “FLEXIBILITY,

ACCOUNTABILITY, AND QUALITY EDUCATION” 

_______________________

Friday, February 16, 2001 

U.S. House of Representatives 

Committee on Education and the Workforce 

Washington, D.C. 

 The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:00 a.m., in the media center, 

Wakeland Elementary School, 1812 27th Street East, Bradenton, Florida, Hon. John 

Boehner [chairman of the committee] presiding. 

 Present: Representatives Boehner, Castle, Tiberi, and George Miller. 

 Also present: Representative Dan Miller. 

 Staff present: Kent Talbert, Professional Staff Member; David Schnittger, 

Director of Communications; Maria Miller, Policy Assistant; Alex Nock, Minority 

Professional Staff Member. 

Chairman Boehner. A quorum being present, the Committee on Education and the 

Workforce will come to order. Under Committee Rule 12-B, opening statements are 

limited to the Chairman and ranking members. Therefore, if other members have 

statements, they will be included in the hearing record. 

 With that, I ask consent for the hearing record to remain open for 14 days to allow 

members' statements and other extraneous material referenced during the hearing to be 

submitted for the official record, and without objection, so ordered. 
2

OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN JOHN BOEHNER, 

COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE, U.S. 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

Chairman Boehner. For those of you that I have not had a chance to meet this morning, 

I'm John Boehner, Chairman of the Committee. I represent the 8th Congressional District 

in Ohio. I want to extend a warm welcome to all of those that are in attendance today, 

and especially to my colleagues, Mr. Miller, Mr. Tiberi, a member from Ohio, Mr. Castle, 

the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Education Reform, from Delaware, and of course, 

you know your own Congressman, Dan Miller. 

 I especially want to thank Ms. Jackie West, the principal here at Wakeland 

Elementary, for making the media center available for our hearing. I know that the 

hearing involves an awful lot of work for you and your staff, and we're grateful for your 

hospitality.

 This is the first of several education reform hearings our committee will be 

holding over the next few weeks. As Congress begins a new legislative session, our 

committee will be traveling around the country to hear from parents, teachers, school 

administrators, and many others about local education reforms that are improving 

academic achievement. 

 These hearings will help lay the foundation for legislative action later this spring 

on our major K-12 federal education law, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. 

Just a few weeks ago, the President announced his education reform plan, a plan with 

academic accountability as its centerpiece, and a plan that ensures that no child is left 

behind.

 Despite nearly a decade of uninterrupted economic growth during the 1990s, the 

achievement gap between disadvantaged students and their peers remains wide. Today 

nearly 70 percent of inner city fourth graders cannot read at a basic level. I believe that 

President Bush's emphasis upon closing the achievement gap for disadvantaged students 

puts the attention of the federal education policy where it should be, upon ensuring that 

every child learns. 

 Our hearing today will focus on accountability, flexibility, and other measures 

that ensure quality education for all of our nation's children. I'm very interested in 

Florida's “A Plus Plan for Education,” which was enacted into law in 1999, and which 

has been at the cutting edge of academic accountability. Central to the accountability 

system are school “report cards.” Under this system, schools are assigned a grade 

between A and F based on how well they perform on the Florida Comprehensive 

Assessment Test. Schools that do well receive cash rewards, and those that are low 

performing are given additional resources to help them improve. However, if a school 

receives an “F” for two years in a row, then parents are given a tuition scholarship to pay 

for the attendance of their children at a better-performing school of their choice. With 

that, I think I'll put the rest of my statement into the record and recognize my colleague 

from California, the ranking member, Mr. Miller. 
3

WRITTEN OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN JOHN BOEHNER, 

COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE, U.S. HOUSE OF 

REPRESENTATIVES – SEE APPENDIX A 

OPENING STATEMENT OF RANKING MEMBER GEORGE 

MILLER, COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE, 

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

Mr. George Miller. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I'm Congressman George 

Miller. I'm the senior Democrat on the committee, and as the Chairman said, I'm from 

California. I'm delighted to be here this morning with the Wakeland school community, 

and Principal Jackie West, thank you very much for your hospitality and for the tour that 

you gave us. 

 As the Chairman said, this is our first hearing, and it parallels the process that we 

are undertaking in the committee to try and develop a reform of ESCA, if you will, with 

special emphasis on Title I. I think it's clear to everyone in the Congress on both sides of 

the aisle that we have clearly and simply got to get better results from the money that 

we're spending at the federal level. Obviously, there are a number of states around the 

country that have taken the bull by the horns and tried to reform their systems to get those 

results that are so important to the children and to their parents. 

 I certainly believe that there are key elements to successful school reform, and 

that is that we must begin by focusing on high quality standards and assessments, and we 

must make a very substantial investment in our teachers' quality. We must increase 

funding to immediately try and turn around those failing schools, and we must give 

special attention to class size and school infrastructure in that same process. If those 

schools are unable to turn around then we must take the kinds of dramatic reforms that 

are necessary that, again, many states have started to contemplate and in some cases, put 

in place. 

 I think first and foremost, we must make sure that every classroom has a teacher 

that is competent to teach the subject matter for which they are teaching. Unfortunately, 

all too often in my state and many other states across this nation, that is simply not true.

It's mostly not true in low income schools. We end up with a situation where the poorest 

children in the poorest schools get the poorest teachers. That's a recipe for disaster, and I 

think that's why in many instances we have not closed that achievement gap between 

majority and minority students in the system. That was the intent of this program, and we 

must make it the result of this program. 

 I think every member of this committee is absolutely dedicated to changing the 

results that we receive under the federal program. I think we all recognize that it's going 

to require additional resources. We all recognize it's going to require some very difficult 

decisions. But more importantly, we've got to recognize that there is a group of people 

that have to live with those decisions on the ground, if you will, on the front lines. We've 

got to see that we can, in fact, make it compatible with the needs of the school system and 

with what has been learned over these many years. 
4

 This is an opportunity, I think, with the new President and with a new Congress to 

in fact get it right this time and just not simply sleepwalk through another reauthorization, pretending like everything is okay, because clearly it is not. 

 Unfortunately, it's not okay in many instances for the poorest of our children. It 

flies in the face - and I'll just finish this saying that the research is very clear. If you take 

a poor child from a poor neighborhood, even with a lot of chaos in its life, and you put 

him with a first class teacher, with a first class curriculum, in a decent facility, he’ll learn 

just like every other child in America. This country can no longer allow that gap to 

continue. The evidence I think even at this school is pretty clear. If we are diligent and 

apply the resources, and we have competent staff, that we can in fact turn it around for 

those children. 

 So I look forward to the witnesses, and Mr. Chairman, thank you for scheduling 

this hearing. 

Chairman Boehner. I'd like to introduce the six witnesses that we have here this 

morning. First is Mr. Charlie Crist, Commissioner of Education here in the State of 

Florida. Next we'll have Mr. James Warford, who is the Superintendent of Marion 

County Public Schools in Ocala, Florida. We also have with us Dr. Frank Till, Jr., the 

Superintendent of Broward County Public Schools in Ft. Lauderdale, Ms. Bertha Zapata, 

a teacher at Broward Elementary School in Tampa, Ms. Sonia Trejo, who is a parent here 

in Bradenton, Florida and Dr. Debra Robinson, a School Board Member for District 1 in 

the West Palm Beach County School District, West Palm Beach, Florida. 

 I'd like to remind our witnesses that your entire written statement will be made 

part of the record. We'd like to limit your statements to as close to five minutes as we 

can, and remind members to hold their questions until all of our witnesses have testified. 

With that, Mr. Crist, you can begin. 

STATEMENT OF CHARLIE CRIST, COMMISSIONER OF 

EDUCATION, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, 

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA 

Mr. Crist. Great. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Members of the Committee, it's a pleasure 

to be with you. I want to also thank the principal, Jackie West, for her courtesy and her 

kindness in setting this up in great order, and the students at Wakeland most particularly. 

 My name is Charlie Crist. I am the new Commissioner of Education in Florida, 

and it's an honor to be invited to speak before you today. Welcome to Florida. We're 

glad to have you here in the Sunshine State. 

 It's a pleasure and an honor to be here because we feel that Florida is on the 

cutting edge of education reform in our country; at least we are striving for that. Let me 

also thank you for choosing this place as a field hearing. We are very proud of Manatee 

County, obviously, as is Congressman Miller; it's always good to see you, Dan. 

 As Florida's Education Commissioner it is my responsibility to ensure that all of 

Florida's students receive the highest quality education possible. With the passage of 
5

Governor Jeb Bush's A-Plus Plan for Education in 1999, our schools and communities 

have shown a renewed commitment to education by initiating reforms that are truly 

impressive in substance and scope. Reforms such as allocating additional resources, 

reductions in the student-teacher ratio, extending the school year, and a dedication to the 

traditional core subjects of reading, writing, and arithmetic will ensure in fact that no 

child is left behind. 

 My Greek immigrant grandfather, Adam, was a living testament to the uplifting 

power of education. He never went further than the third grade and at one point in his 

life shined shoes for a living. Yet he was able to educate all his children, including my 

father, who ended up being a medical doctor. My grandfather never stopped preaching 

the virtues of education, even to me. That's why I have such a passion for making sure 

each child receives the opportunity to gain the lifelong benefits that education can truly 

provide.

 Last week, I was honored to join with other state education leaders from around 

the country to discuss education issues with President Bush at the White House. His 

desire to improve our schools is driven by the deeply held conviction that every child 

should be at the center of our efforts. Congressional leaders obviously also recognize that 

point, too. 

 Earlier this week, Governor Bush and I were in Collier County to advance his 

Family Literacy Initiative. I had the opportunity to read to a group of third graders at 

Vineyard Elementary School in Naples, Florida and discuss the importance of reading 

and education with them. It was rewarding to see their young faces excited about 

learning. When we make children and not institutions the center and the beneficiaries of 

education reform, there is no way that we can help but win. 

 My personal commitment to our education, our children and the future of our state 

is why I chose to make a difference, or at least try, as Education Commissioner. Allow 

me to explain some of our major reform initiatives that will help ensure a high-quality 

education for Florida's students. 

 Accountability is at the core. Accountability is one of the themes of this field 

hearing. Our strategy for directing more education dollars to the classroom is based upon 

the fact that too much tax money is absorbed by a burgeoning education bureaucracy.

Our spending choices must be child-centered, not institution-based. Accountability for 

spending, for decisions, and for outcomes provides the foundation for our reforms. We 

propose that Florida school districts undergo independent financial management audits to 

evaluate the effectiveness of programs. Cost savings through contracting or outsourcing 

would ensure resources are used to achieve the core mission of providing children the 

very highest quality education. 

 Children must be safe to learn. We are too often faced with the specter of school 

violence and its devastating effects on the lives and well-being of our children and 

families. We have learned this all too well in Florida. Just last year in Palm Beach 

County, one of our hard-working public school teachers was tragically shot and killed.

We propose requiring school districts to undergo safety audits to help them. We want to 

partner with our districts, because these are good people. They are hard-working people 

and they care deeply about our children, our teachers, and our families. Schools and 

districts would be given a safety grade on a scale of A to F, just as we do with schools 
6

today. When a school receives an F grade two years in a row, parents would have the 

right to send their child to another public school. 

 As you are aware, I am sure, we have a teacher shortage problem. We face it in 

significant ways here in Florida. One of our greatest challenges is to deal with that. So I 

am proposing that we provide scholarships of $5,000 per year to graduates of Florida 

public high schools who will agree to teach in Florida schools once they have finished 

college. They would get full tuition, fees, and books paid for by the state. We recruit 

college athletes. I used to be one; I played quarterback in college. It's important and it's 

fun, but it's much more important to make sure, I believe, that we have good quality 

teachers for our young people for their future. That's why I think this is an important 

measure. We hope to pass it this session. 

 Learning cannot take place under substandard conditions and in facilities where 

students feel unsafe. That's why I've proposed that portable classrooms be completely 

eliminated from our state by July 1, 2003. 

 We must commit ourselves to improving every facet of our children's learning 

experience. How successful we are in achieving this goal depends on the value we place 

on the future welfare and prosperity of our young people. Our students deserve every 

opportunity to excel and it is our responsibility to make sure that it happens. 

 In 1996, Florida adopted a rigorous set of achievement expectations known as the 

Sunshine State Standards. They tell us what students should know and be able to know 

from kindergarten through high school. To measure students' mastery of standards, the 

Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, known as the ``FCAT,'' was developed. It was 

first administered in 1998, although the grading of our schools began under the Lawton 

Chiles' administration. 

 Florida's system of education accountability also includes holding schools 

accountable for that learning. To that end, in 1999 Governor Bush proposed, along with 

Lt. Governor Brogan, the A-Plus Plan, which was enacted by the Florida legislature.

Public schools are assigned a grade, A through F, based on student performance on the 

FCAT and other factors. Students attending schools that receive two F grades in a fouryear period are eligible to receive opportunity scholarships. The scholarships enable 

them to choose a higher-performing public school or a private school. One of the myths 

surrounding opportunity scholarships is that only the best students would choose to attend 

another school. This, as well as the theory that public schools would be ``abandoned'' and 

that the children who attend them would be ``left behind'' has been proven wrong in our 

state. Roughly even numbers of high-performing and low-performing students have 

chosen to attend another school. In addition, school districts throughout our state have 

implemented changes with remarkable student achievement results. 

 Just yesterday, the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research issued a report 

evaluating the effectiveness of Florida's A-Plus Plan. In addition to validating FCAT as a 

reliable measure of student achievement, although we know it's imperfect and we are 

trying to improve it continuously, the report concluded that opportunity scholarships 

clearly motivate failing schools to improve. 

 I want to point out here that I think our public school teachers deserve a 

tremendous pat on the back. In our second year of testing with the FCAT, there were no 
7

F schools, and I think it's important to make sure that we have a lot of carrots in addition 

to some of the sticks that we have in our accountability. The carrots should be that we 

hold up our public school teachers as having done a great job and having met the 

challenge.

 Florida students have made remarkable strides in their academic success. Even 

with these dramatic advances, there is much work to do as we continue to implement 

comprehensive education reform. We are in the midst of an exciting time in education, 

and we have the opportunity to continue the necessary reforms that will impact us well 

into the future. 

 While we have begun to make Florida's educational system performance-based 

and child-centered, much of the federal budget is regulation-based and system-centered. 

That's why we thank you for being here today. President Bush's philosophy for education 

reform that addresses the federal role in education is welcome and needed. For too long 

we have allowed student academic performance to wallow in low expectations. With this 

committee's help, and your help, Mr. Chairman, there can now be a meshing of state and 

federal policy that ensures every student will achieve academic success. 

Mr. Chairman, thank you again for being here today. Thank all of you for traveling to 

Florida. Congressman Miller, welcome home. 

WRITTEN STATEMENT OF CHARLIE CRIST, COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION, 

FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – SEE 

APPENDIX B 

Chairman Boehner. Mr. Warford? 

STATEMENT OF JAMES WARFORD, SUPERINTENDENT, 

MARION COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS, OCALA, FLORIDA 

Mr. Warford. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I appreciate the 

opportunity to speak to you today. My name is James Warford. I am Superintendent of 

the Marion County School District here in Florida. I am a businessman and an educator 

with a passion for public schools and school reform. You see, I was born into poverty 

and a troubled home. I'm sitting here today because of what teachers did for me. I know 

that teachers don't just change lives they can save them. Teachers are the only hope some 

of our young people will ever have. So I'm very proud of the fact that as a former 

teacher, I was named ``Teacher of the Year'' in my district four different times. 

 As Superintendent of Schools, I have fully embraced and support The Florida APlus Education Plan and its philosophy of accountability. I am following the lead of 

Governor Jeb Bush, Lt. Governor Frank Brogan, and Commissioner Charlie Crist. Not 

because it's politically popular or easy to do, but because it's right and because it works. 

It is based on a very simple philosophy that is accepted without question in the business 

world: what gets measured gets done. 
8

 If you take anything away from my remarks today, I would want it to be this: The 

A-Plus Plan has already made a difference in the lives of the people who matter most to 

me, my students. Today, in Marion County, Florida, our students are reading, writing, 

and calculating better than they were just three years ago. You will find attached to my 

testimony some of the gains that we've already made in our district. 

 Let me retrace our steps just a minute. In 1997, before I was superintendent I 

might add, we identified three of our lowest-performing elementary schools. In these 

schools almost 80 percent of the fourth graders tested below grade level, and the majority 

of them by as much or more than two years. The data showed that they had been that 

way for years. It is no surprise that the students in these schools were also poor, often 

minority, spoke other languages, and had a high mobility rate. These were the exact 

reasons given by our district for their poor performance. I refused to accept that. I 

agreed with Frank Brogan, who was, at that time, our Commissioner of Education. He 

believed that these were just excuses. 

 Here's what was really happening in those schools. The parents of these students 

were also poor. They paid few or no property taxes, they often had little education 

themselves, they did not know how to access the ``system,'' or to help their children, and 

here's a point that this committee might appreciate. They tended not to vote. But more 

importantly, I believe these parents and students were victims of the most damaging form 

of racism in our country today, the racism of low expectations. 

 I was asked here today to address the issue of accountability. The simple truth is 

that failing schools like the ones I've described can exist only where there is no 

accountability. The Bush/Brogan A-Plus Plan put in place a system of accountability that 

made the conditions in our failing schools impossible to hide. 

 The components of this plan are very simple. It establishes a set of high 

standards, the Florida Sunshine State Standards that determine what our children should 

know and be able to do at each grade level. It uses a meaningful test, the FCAT, to 

measure how well they have done. Most importantly, it holds each school accountable by 

grading them from A to F on how well their students perform. Make no mistake about it, 

the A-Plus Plan provided a much-needed wake-up call for our district. 

 When the scarlet letter ``F'' was given to the three failing schools and the glaring 

spotlight of media attention was focused on the failure that is when things began to 

change. It has been said that large organizations don't change because they suddenly see 

the light, but because they begin to feel the heat. With three ``F'' schools and eight ``D'' 

schools in my county, it got plenty warm. Failing schools meant the threat of vouchers, 

and that really lit a fire under some folks. 

 As a result, attention was focused on the problems of our low-performing schools. 

I was also elected superintendent. A district school intervention plan was created.

Training, tools, and time were provided to the teachers in those schools, who are the only 

ones who can make a difference, and higher expectations were set for everyone. 

 What were the results? All three schools improved dramatically. Two schools 

went from an ``F'' to ``C'' and one school, Fessenden Elementary, was one of only two 

schools in the State of Florida that actually went from an ``F'' to an ``A'' in one year. I 

have furnished you with copies of the improvements these schools have made. They 
9

made tremendous gains across the board in reading, writing, and mathematics. 

 I am very proud of those students and their teachers. They proved that all 

children can learn and that they will reach any goal we set for them. However, we are 

forced to ask ourselves this question: Why did it take the threat of vouchers to force us to 

do what we should have been doing all along and might not have done otherwise? 

 In closing, the story of these three schools illustrates exactly why I support both 

Bush education plans, my governor's and my President's. It works, and it's not rocket 

science. Set high standards for what children should learn, test them to see if they've 

learned it, and have meaningful consequences for those schools that fail to make adequate 

progress. What gets measured gets done. As a state and as a nation, as our President and 

as my governor have both said, we can no longer afford to leave any child behind. Only 

with meaningful accountability can we make sure that does not happen. Thank you very 

much.

WRITTEN STATEMENT OF JAMES WARFORD, SUPERINTENDENT, MARION 

COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS, OCALA, FLORIDA – SEE APPENDIX C 

Chairman Boehner. Thank you, Mr. Warford. Dr. Till? 

STATEMENT OF FRANK TILL, JR., SUPERINTENDENT, 

BROWARD COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS, FT. LAUDERDALE, 

FLORIDA

Mr. Till. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. It's a pleasure 

to be here from Broward County. Broward County is the fifth-largest school system in 

America, with approximately 255,000 students. We will grow about 11,000 students 

between this past September and next September. Of that, about 40 percent will be 

foreign-born. So today we are going to talk about accountability, but we could talk about 

other things. For example, we have gotten every dollar that you've made us eligible for. 

We're going to spend $1.8 billion on construction over the next five years and we're 

going to be a billion dollars short. Many of the things coming before Congress will not 

give us one penny because of our millage rate here in Florida. 

 We have other issues, too, and I can certainly talk about vouchers. I respectfully 

do not agree with my colleague to the right on vouchers. I think they are short-term and 

would not be there. Maybe in the question and answer period I will expound on that. 

 But I want to talk about the critical issue that I think the federal government can 

address. That is, the shortage of teachers and qualified administrators. I agree with the 

comments earlier and I've said this, in the fifth largest school system in America, give me 

a good teacher in every classroom and my job will become significantly easier and 

achievement goes up. We've got to find a way in America to entice people to go into 

education.

 Only in America, only in America can you have someplace that only 20 percent 

of people graduate from college. Yet teachers are demeaned as being stupid because they 

don't have SAT scores. A college graduate is a high-achieving student. My faculty has a 
10

tremendous number of master's degrees and a tremendous number of doctorate degrees. 

 So in Broward County we've created a strategic plan. In our strategic plan we 

brought 80 of our business leaders together to create this plan. We didn't do it from an 

educational prospective. We did it with the idea that the business community would hold 

us accountable. So in addition to the A-Plus Plan, which in general I support because I 

think it is making a difference in Florida, we wanted the business community to keep us 

from thinking like educators so that no one could criticize us in the end for having a plan 

that was too narrow. We created that strategic plan, and in my testimony I present it to 

you. You have a copy of the ten goals. Those goals were in fact to bring forward quality. 

 We also adopted the Baldridge equivalent in Florida, the Sterling, which was 

started by President Bush, brought to Florida by Governor Chiles, and now adopted by 

Jeb Bush. The idea behind that was our belief that we had to talk to our community in a 

language that they understood. We are a business and we are businessmen. I run a 

building company of over $1.8 billion. I transport over 140,000 students a day. I feed 

over 160,000 students a day. I am the largest employer in Broward County. The nextclosest employer, I have 26,000 employees, has 6,000. So I am a businessman, but I have 

this special commodity called 255,000 students. Those 255,000 students also have a 

special commodity; it's called the teacher. 

 We have created a disincentive for our teachers from going into the field. The 

salary is low. Our beginning teacher is about $32,000 a year. I can train students in my 

high school for a career, to walk out and go to work for Cisco Systems at $40,000 a year. 

A wide variety of my students go into being nurses for several thousands of dollars more 

than my teachers. So we've got to find ways to entice people to go into teaching. 

 In our system, we have tackled that. We went to our major universities. Nova 

University is one of the largest private universities in the United States. It is now going 

to California, my former state. Florida Atlantic University, our community college, 

Barry University, Florida Atlantic University, and other universities have put together a 

teacher summit. We created a teacher summit to find out what the barriers are for 

teachers going into education. One of the things we found without a doubt is that 

teachers just do not feel appreciated by the public. There is too much bashing of 

education. There is too much bully pulpiting in education. We cannot reform education 

from a bully pulpit. We can reform it only by cooperating. 

 In Broward County we are looking at trying to entice people to come in. We 

think it would be great if, for example at the federal level, when you create enterprise 

zones, you create enterprise zones for teachers who teach in those communities. A friend 

of mine in San Diego, in the barrio of San Diego, had an enterprise zone where he got a 

tax break for being in the barrio. But my teachers one block away did not get one tax 

credit for teaching the most poverty-stricken kids in San Diego. Why don't we begin to 

level the playing field and entice people to go into education? 

 In Broward County we believe in accountability. We are not afraid of 

competition. We have more charter schools than anyplace else. We are willing to look at 

reassignment policies. We have approximately 10,000 students who were reassigned.

We like competition, because we want to be compared with the best, because that's where 

we're going to be. We agree with Governor Bush, President Bush that we don't want to 

leave any student behind. In fact our motto is, ``Reforming Education One Student at a 
11

Time.'' 

 We believe that we've got to knock down the barriers. If you come to Broward 

County, you will see us all wearing anti-barrier buttons. We ask five questions in my 

district: What are the barriers? Who caused the barrier? How does it impact children? 

Why do they have the barrier? And why do we need to remove it? 

 I believe that with the re-authorization of Title I, at the federal level, and with the 

leadership of Commissioner Crist and Governor Bush that we can begin to look at the 

barriers. But we've got to look at the barriers and make sure that we as federal 

government, as a state government, or as a local school district have not put barriers in 

the way of our teachers that keep them from teaching our kids. 

 We've got to make sure that when we require them to go to staff development that 

it adds value to the classroom and not just a roll sheet. We've got to make sure the 

paperwork that is done is done in a way that helps students; that it doesn't just satisfy 

somebody sitting in an office in downtown Ft. Lauderdale, downtown Tallahassee, or 

Washington, D.C. 

 So you can read my testimony and see the positive things we are doing. I think 

we are closing the gap, and we are a model for the country. But the reality is that we've 

got to do more to reform our system to get to that next level. I thank you very much for 

inviting me here today. 

WRITTEN STATEMENT OF FRANK TILL, JR., SUPERINTENDENT, BROWARD 

COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS, FT. LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA – SEE APPENDIX D 

Chairman Boehner. Thank you, Dr. Till. Ms. Zapata? 

STATEMENT OF BERTHA ZAPATA, TEACHER, BROWARD 

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, TAMPA, FLORIDA 

Ms. Zapata. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I am Bertha Zapata. Last month 

I had the privilege of being a participant in President Bush's roundtable discussion with 

successful reading providers. I am ESOL research teacher, that's English for speakers of 

other languages, at Broward Elementary in Tampa. 

 Broward is a Title I school. Eighty percent of our students qualify for the Free 

and Reduced Lunch program, and 65 percent are categorized as highly mobile. I teach 

students who speak little or no English. The majority are Hispanic and Asian, but I also 

have Russian and Kosovar students. By the end of one year the vast majority of my 

students are speaking, reading, and writing in English. It is not magic. It is not because 

all these children are extremely bright, though many of them are. It is because of the 

Spalding method, which I have been using to teach non-speaking children since 1994. It 

incorporates research-based components essential for all children to become accurate 

speakers, fluent readers, and accomplished writers. 

 The worst mistake a teacher makes is to underestimate their student's abilities. 

One of my first grade bilingual students, a young six-year-old boy from Colombia, who 
12

just turned six in November, has been here less than one year. Excitedly he told me last 

week, “Mrs. Zapata, I only need two more points to meet my goal!”' He is reading 

independently on grade level and then taking a test on the computer. Yesterday he said to 

me, “I've met my goal!”' 

 Quality education depends upon high expectations. Students of all ability levels 

must be challenged to produce quality work that fully develops their intellect. When 

teachers have high expectations, children are more likely to set high standards for their 

own work. No child need be left behind if they are taught the alphabetic code. 

 English is a phonetic language. Researchers have discovered that the ability to 

read and comprehend text depends upon rapid and automatic recognition and decoding of 

single words. That skill, in turn, depends upon letter knowledge, vocabulary, and 

comprehension skills which must also be taught. 

 I start by teaching my students the 70 phonograms that represent the sounds of the 

English language. Phonics instruction takes place in the spelling lesson. Students say 

and write the sounds used in spoken English. That connects written symbols to their 

spoken sounds. Also included in the spelling portion are precise techniques for good, 

easy handwriting, because researchers have found that improving the speed and accuracy 

of handwriting frees up students' minds for the higher order of thinking needed for 

writing better compositions. 

 I begin writing instruction in kindergarten and first grade by teaching children to 

use spelling words in oral sentences. Learning to construct good oral sentences prepares 

children for writing and reinforces the meaning of unfamiliar words. By using the words 

they have written to compose and write two or three sentences daily, my students learn 

how words and sentences are constructed. They begin reading by reading their own 

original sentences. 

 I do not neglect literature. Students first learn to listen to and then read good 

literature. I incorporate comprehension strategies, such as teaching students to check 

their understanding, make connections with prior knowledge, predict, and summarize. So 

children understand what they read. The mental work involved in applying knowledge of 

reading, writing, and spelling engages student's minds and interests. Quality education is 

research-based instruction. 

 Without accountability for results children will be left behind. I am certain that 

my students are succeeding because a daily assessment of progress is built into the 

method I use. Therefore, I have a clear indication of what my students know and what 

they still need to learn. However, that is not the case with many programs. For too many 

years we have not been accountable. Therefore, teaching fads come and go. Assessment 

instruments and careful observation of student progress guides teachers in planning 

appropriate instruction and adjusting instruction to meet student needs. To improve 

accountability, annual standardized or performance-based testing is essential. 

 As long as schools are held accountable for student progress, local school districts 

must have the flexibility to choose instructional programs that meet their students' needs. 

We do not need a national reading program. Holding schools accountable for results is 

the way to demonstrate that whatever program is selected does work. The National 

Reading Panel Report documented that systematic instruction in phonemic awareness, 
13

phonics and comprehension strategies significantly improved students' reading across 

kindergarten through eighth grade. 

 Some existing programs already incorporate these essential components. For 

example, the reading program that I have used successfully with my ESOL students has a 

45-year history of teaching children to read. Unfortunately, programs such as this have 

not been widely implemented because of the prevailing philosophy at colleges of 

education.

 If we are really serious about leaving no child behind, attention needs to be 

focused on teacher preparation. Teachers cannot teach what they do not know. 

Underlying the debate about reading methods is disagreement about the value of explicit 

instruction and skill practice. Too many education professors believe that instruction and 

practice stifle creativity and higher level thinking. 

 I am here to let you know that nothing is further from the truth. No one is able to 

think of more than one thing at a time, and neither are children. If they can't decode the 

words they cannot get meaning from them. Professional preparation programs have a 

responsibility to teach a defined body of knowledge, skills, and abilities based on the best 

research in the field. 

 I, like most teachers I know, recognize the need for better training. I went to a 

private provider, Spalding, to obtain the knowledge and skills to help my students be 

successful. Thank you for letting me testify on this subject for which I am passionate. 

WRITTEN STATEMENT OF BERTHA ZAPATA, TEACHER, BROWARD 

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, TAMPA, FLORIDA – SEE APPENDIX E 

Chairman Boehner. Ms. Zapata, thank you. Ms. Trejo? 

STATEMENT OF SONIA TREJO, PARENT, BRADENTON, 

FLORIDA

Mrs. Trejo. Good morning. My name is Sonia Trejo, and today I want to talk to you 

about school accountability and high standards for all students. I am a parent of four 

school-aged students. Two children attend elementary and one attends middle school. 

My other child attends high school. 

 In our family, education is a top priority for all. Only one of my children attends 

their home school; that is my high school daughter. My two elementary school children 

attend this school because we had decided to apply for school choice. We chose this 

school because of the increase in test scores as compared to their neighborhood school. 

My middle school son attends a charter school, which is Pal Academy, because of the 

small class size and individual attention that he receives. 

 I want and desire much more for my children than I was able to achieve for 

myself. I only finished seventh grade and attended vocational training to become a 

cosmetologist. Presently, my husband and I own our own roofing business. High 

standards for my children and school accountability remain first and foremost for us as a 
14

family. 

 I am glad that the public school that my children attend continues to strive for 

excellence. I am also very glad that I have had the opportunity to exercise school choice 

and make decisions about where my children are to attend school. I am sorry I don't have 

much more to say, but I didn't want to get off track. 

WRITTEN STATEMENT OF SONIA TREJO, PARENT, BRADENTON, FLORIDA – 

SEE APPENDIX F 

Chairman Boehner. No. Thank you. We appreciate your testimony. Dr. Robinson? 

STATEMENT OF DEBRA ROBINSON, SCHOOL BOARD 

MEMBER, DISTRICT 1, WEST PALM BEACH COUNTY SCHOOL 

DISTRICT, WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA 

Dr. Robinson. Good morning. I want to thank Chairman Boehner, Ranking Member 

Miller, and other members of the committee, as well as the principal and the students of 

Wakeland Elementary for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts on Florida's 

accountability system. 

 I am the daughter of a civil-rights attorney and an educator. I'm a proud graduate 

of Michigan State University and the Howard University College of Medicine. I'm a 

school board member, a practicing internal medicine physician, and most importantly, a 

wife and a mother of three sons. My sons are members of the group most likely to be 

undereducated in this country. I am also a founding member and past chair of the 

nonprofit organization, The Coalition for Black Student Achievement. These are the 

reasons that I responded to the call for public service and ran for the Palm Beach County 

School Board. I was elected in September 2000 and was seated in November 2000. 

 I believe that Florida's accountability system is essentially a sound system, but it 

does have some shortcomings. I recognize that not all of the problems with our state's 

system can be or should be addressed at the federal level. The state must address some of 

these issues and some accountability issues have to be addressed at the local level. The 

federal government has an important role to play in establishing a strong foundation, a 

bottom-line accountability on which states and school districts will build. The bottomline accountability should ensure that high achievement for all students occurs, and it 

should ensure that every state, school district, and school eliminates the gap that separates 

low-income students and students of color from others. 

 First, the federal government should require that states use disaggregated data for 

accountability. The Florida accountability system no longer uses such data. Without 

using such data, you cannot clearly determine which groups are being essentially kicked 

to the curb. You can mask the difference in achievement between these groups and you 

will not accomplish the reported mission of “leaving no child behind.” The achievement 

of each child matters, and under the current federal accountability system, which would 

allow for averaging of achievement data across student groups, the achievement of too 

many of our children would not matter. 
15

 Additionally, be clear that the unit to measure is the student and not the school. 

We have to ensure that every student is counted. When Florida was using disaggregated 

data, they used it based on subgroups. Each subgroup was defined as having at least 30 

students in that group per grade level, per school. Therefore, if you had a school with 

only 27 black students in the fourth grade, those 27 children's achievement data was not 

measured when factoring the school's grade. It is important that the federal government 

design an accountability system that requires all groups and each student in each group to 

be measured. 

 Thirdly, the federal government has to provide a clear standard and definition of 

school success and failure. My understanding is that the federal government currently 

allows each state to establish their own definition of a failing school. Therefore, there is 

great state-to-state variation in school failure rates. This is similar to students in one 

school getting an “A” for the same work in which other students in other schools would 

receive a “C.” In other terms, you might say that hanging chads are counted in some 

states and not in others. 

 I believe that there needs to be a strong federal guidance to the states on what it 

means to be in need of improvement. You must define the universal benchmarks for 

schools as The Sunshine State Standards do for students. Now I want to be clear that I 

don't want the federal government or anyone else to reward school failure. However, I 

think it is nonsense to expect struggling schools to improve without a clear definition of 

the target, and an investment of additional resources on the things that we know work to 

boost student achievement. 

 Fourthly, vouchers make no sense in a strong public accountability system. There 

is a broad consensus that the best way to raise achievement for all students and close the 

gap between groups of students is by creating a system in which schools supported by 

public dollars are held accountable to the public for helping all students meet a set of 

clearly stated, publicly articulated goals. That is why I am opposed to the Florida 

voucher program, and why I would also oppose any federal voucher program based upon 

that model. Such a scheme would send public funds into institutions that have no 

publicly articulated goals for their students and therefore cannot be held accountable to 

the public. So in fact, private school vouchers are anti-accountability. 

 More than that, I believe that vouchers are an empty promise since there are not 

enough spaces in private schools to accommodate all the students to which we owe a 

good education. 

 Finally, I'd like to say that accountability is only a buzzword without effective 

teacher preparation. The most important variable effecting student achievement is not 

family income; it is not the number of children in the classroom. The most important 

variable is the content, knowledge, and teaching skills of the teacher in that classroom. 

 In large measure, the low performance in urban and low-income schools is the 

result of the disproportionate numbers of uncertified teachers and teachers teaching 

without a college major or minor in the area in which they are instructing. Too many 

colleges of education do not prepare our graduates to teach reading or manage the 

challenges of teaching in an urban classroom. The federal government must outline the 

minimum course content for degrees in education. K-16 initiatives can assist in outlining 
16

the correction course for this curriculum and outlining the necessary competencies. 

 We must institute a system of accountability that not only clearly articulates the 

benchmarks for students and defines proficiency, but also provides teachers with the tools 

to impart knowledge to our most challenged students. Teacher staff development must be 

focused on the benchmarks; it must be job-imbedded and ongoing. Additional resources 

are necessary to replicate best practice models for staff development in every district and 

every school. 

 We will only lure the best and brightest into the teaching profession if we start to 

treat teachers as the professionals that we expect them to be in a system of accountability. 

There must be more scholarships for high-performing students to enter our colleges of 

education, and greater financial rewards when they graduate and enter our classrooms. 

Students will benefit greatly if the federal government, as well as others, provides 

additional funding directly to the school districts to provide incentives for bright minds to 

teach.

 In closing, I'd like to say that accountability for adults that impact the education of 

our students is necessary. But accountability without strategic planning will only serve to 

identify schools that haven't reached the mark, and will not prepare our children for the 

future. Thank you. 

WRITTEN STATEMENT OF DEBRA ROBINSON, SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER, 

DISTRICT 1, WEST PALM BEACH COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, WEST PALM 

BEACH, FLORIDA – SEE APPENDIX G 

Chairman Boehner. I'd like to thank all of the witnesses for their excellent testimony. 

We leave Washington to go out, as I would describe it, to the real world and talk to real 

people about what the real solutions are to the problems that we face. Clearly, our visit 

here this morning has been rather rewarding in terms of getting testimony from people 

who are here on the ground and involved in these issues. 

Dr. Robinson, I found your testimony interesting in terms of what you are asking us as 

federal legislators to do in terms of setting high accountability standards. As you may or 

may not be aware of, under the President's proposal, that would be left to the states. We 

have a fine line that we are trying to walk, all of us, especially those of us in Washington 

who want to refocus our efforts and energies toward disadvantaged students. We think 

this should be done through the implementation of higher standards. However, we don't 

want to take your place as a member of the Palm Beach County School Board. We don't 

want to be the national school board in Washington. I want to see if you can help me 

understand where that line is. 

Dr. Robinson. I'd be happy to. 

Chairman Boehner. We've got the federal government; you've got the State Department 

of Education and your own school board. 

Dr. Robinson. Yes. I think that if you are really going to talk about accountability at the 

federal level, you cannot allow 50 different standards to define a school as successful or 

unsuccessful. You have to define that standard to some degree. 
17

 Now I'm not asking you to say how we get there. I think the point is well made 

that we shouldn't hand teachers or local administration a package and say just follow one, 

two, and three. But you have to set a clear target, just as in Florida. Now let me tell you, 

I agree with previous statements about the racism of low expectations. That is what has 

happened. Black children, especially black males, have been told frequently, “That's 

good enough for you.”' So I am very pleased with the Sunshine State Standards and have 

spoken a lot in my community about the need to have a shared common target. I did this 

because before, the target was lower for black children and other children of color, 

especially black males. So now we have a clear target. 

 I don't want the target for schools in Florida to be different from the target for 

schools in the State of Washington. That target for schools has to be set at the national 

level and it has to be clearly defined. 

Chairman Boehner. Under the President's proposal, whatever the state assessment 

model is it would be similar in certain grades to how well Florida would be doing. When 

compared to other states two things will be ensured. First, that the assessment being used 

in the state is accurate. Secondly, that children are improving and learning. However, it 

would still leave how the assessment would occur and what the standards would be up to 

the State Board of Education and the local school districts. 

Dr. Robinson. I appreciate the point. I'm not asking you to create a national version of 

the FCAT. What I am saying is that before the federal government rewards or punishes 

school systems, schools, and ultimately students for what is deemed success or failure, 

you still have to define it. You know, I don't know if that means you get some experts to 

compare the assessment tools from state to state, but it still has to be clearly defined. Let 

me just say one more thing, because there is a numbers game that goes on, okay? There 

are schools in the State of Florida that move from an “F”' to a “D” by virtue of teaching 

one student how to write. 

 The other problem in terms of “no child being left behind” is that we have a 

situation where because of the way schools are graded, schools are putting a lot of 

resources and effort into the children that fall just below the mark and they are getting 

them over that hump so the school grade will go up. But the children in most need of 

intensive care educational services are being pushed to the side, saying, we don't have 

time to invest in you. We have to be clear. We have to look at each and every child. We 

can't play that little numbers game. It's up to the federal government. If we're going to 

talk about “no child being left behind,” to institute a system that says just that we're not 

playing this little numbers game that goes on. 

Chairman Boehner. Mr. Warford, did you say that you had several schools in your 

district identified as “F” schools, one of which became an “A” school? 

Mr. Warford. Yes, sir. It went from an F to an A in one year. If you look at some of the 

documentation I have provided you will see that it wasn't one student. We made 

significant gains across the board. 

Chairman Boehner. How? That's my question, how? 

Mr. Warford. Well, we did for those schools what we should have been doing all along.

We provided more resources, we lowered class sizes, we provided intensive teacher 
18

training and I'm going to tell you very frankly. I'm going to speak very candidly to this 

committee. Because of the conditions I had outlined in those schools, prior to my 

becoming superintendent, that's where we had parked many of our low-performing 

teachers. We don't put those teachers in our high-profile schools. The parents in those 

schools won't allow us to do so. What we do is we send those teachers to the lowperforming schools. 

 So we identified those teachers. Some of those teachers opted out because they 

didn't really want the scrutiny and the pressure that they knew was coming. So we did all 

of the things we knew made a difference. We extended the school day, we extended the 

school week, we remediated the children before the failure occurred, and it works. 

 The point that I want to make, and I can't stress it enough, is that I think the recent 

report that the commissioner referred to from the Manhattan Institute indicates very 

clearly that the voucher effect on low-performing “F”' schools in the State of Florida was 

more statistically significant than reducing class size with regard to motivating those 

schools to improve. 

Chairman Boehner. I'm sure I'm already over my five minutes of questions, but Mr. 

Crist, how many students in Florida today are the recipients of a scholarship? 

Mr. Crist. There are only 73 in the state. You mean an opportunity scholarship, I 

presume? 

Chairman Boehner. Right, I'm sorry. 

Mr. Crist. Yes, for two schools in Escambia County, Pensacola. So there was a large 

hue and cry when the program was first passed. 

Chairman Boehner. Yeah, we heard it all the way in Washington. 

Mr. Crist. I'm sure you did. 

Chairman Boehner. We heard it for a long time, but I heard from the testimony earlier; 

the fact is that the Florida School Improvement Plan, which is similar to the Bush Plan, is 

designed so that 99.9 percent of the plan is aimed at improving public education. As I 

understand the opportunity scholarships in Florida, which are similar to the portability 

issue with the President's plan, are nothing more than a safety valve at the end of the 

process to protect children. But there were only 73 students in Florida? 

Mr. Crist. Yes. I should point out that 73 students out of about 2.5 million students. 

Chairman Boehner. I'll recognize the gentleman from California. 

Mr. George Miller. Just on that point, is the program still open for enrollment? Aren't 

you on hold or something? 

Mr. Crist. It's still open for enrollment. The situation is that if a school doesn't receive 

an “F”' grade two out of four years then it doesn't apply to them. I think the point of the 

superintendent is well taken, and if I could give just one other example. 
19

 In Hillsborough County Earl Leonard is the superintendent there; he is a dear 

friend and a great leader. When Hillsborough County first went through the FCAT 

grading and none of the schools in Hillsborough County received an F, he brought his 

administrators together and said, ``Look, I want to make a point. I want to make sure that 

none of them receives an F grade in the second year,'' because of the threat of vouchers, 

frankly. He said, “What I want to make sure that we do is we provide every possible 

opportunity for all of our schools to pass.” 

Mr. George Miller. I understand that. Let me just ask you this. Isn't there an order in 

place that the students who are in the private schools won't be taken out and there won't 

be students added until the court makes a determination? 

Mr. Crist. It's on appeal right now, right. 

Mr. George Miller. Yeah, I understand. So the system is on hold. You can't add 

additional students to it, can you, under the court order? 

Mr. Crist. Not currently. 

Mr. George Miller. Okay, so - okay. 

Mr. Crist. But it was 73 out of 2.5 million, nonetheless, when all 2.5 million could have 

been eligible initially. 

Mr. George Miller. Okay, I understand. I just wanted to - I didn't understand that. 

Ms. Robinson, let me just say that I'm somewhere between you and the Chairman here. I 

don't think we can set those national standards for every state. I think two things that I 

agree with the President on is his insistence on disaggregation of the data so you know 

how each and every kid is doing, and I don't think that has yet been done in Florida. It's 

not done in most states. The only state that I know it was done in was Texas, where the 

President did it. 

 The other one is, that's why he's suggesting that the states then have to send a 

sampling of students to be tested on the NAPE. As we know, states have exams and the 

states do good, and the Governor looks good, and then we put them up against the NAPE 

and boom, they just fall right to the floor. That's true in South Carolina where Secretary 

Riley put the exam in place and then of course was substantially embarrassed once the 

kids went on to take the NAPE. 

 I mean, that's the kind of check we can put in place. We have talked on the 

committee about - I see it I think in New York - they just signed a contract yesterday that 

now talks about that you have to spread the teachers around the district. You can't just 

have the poorest teachers going to the poorest schools and everybody else bidding out the 

minute they have seniority, which happens almost everywhere else in the nation. If 

you're going to get Title I funds, there has to be some comparability between teaching 

staffs within districts and hopefully, within the state. 

 I think those are the kinds of things we can do. It's a little bit like taking your 

temperature after you have the flu, but I don't think we can - I just don't see us setting 

hard, you know, standards for 50 different states. We can't get 50 states to come up with 
20

their own exam yet. We've got seven states that have come up with them after five years. 

There is obviously a lot of gaming going on there and my state is not immune from it, I 

don't think, in terms of trying to develop that exam. 

 Let me ask you another question if I might. If I get a state opportunity grant and 

I'm in third grade and I enroll in a private school, my understanding is then I am allowed 

to continue to enroll in private school until I graduate from high school? 

Mr. Crist. That's true. 

Mr. George Miller. That's true? So I don't know what your system is here, but do you 

have middle schools? 

Mr. Crist. We do. 

Mr. George Miller. And you obviously have high schools. 

Mr. Crist. Yes, we do. 

Mr. George Miller. So if I'm in third grade, by the time I get to sixth grade or seventh 

grade to middle school, however you divide them here, even if that's an ``A'' school I can 

still stay in the private school system? 

Mr. Crist. It's up to the parent. They have the power of choice. 

Mr. George Miller. I understand that, but what does that have to do with failing schools, 

then? 

Mr. Crist. It's the opportunity for the child and the parent to make the initial choice if 

they are in a failing school for two out of four years. 

Mr. George Miller. Right. But if the failing school is Wakeland Elementary and the 

middle school is a five-star ``A'' school, why aren't I back in the public school system 

with public dollars? Why do I continue in the private school system? 

Mr. Crist. Well, in fact, you may not be. 

Mr. George Miller. No, but I have the choice. 

Mr. Crist. You do. 

Dr. Robinson. Why? 

Mr. Crist. We believe in parents having the power. 

Mr. George Miller. You believe in parents having the power to get away from a failing 

school, but what is the power of the parent to leave with public resources? 

Mr. Crist. They may; they have that option; they can leave. They can leave the private 

school.
21

Mr. George Miller. Then it really isn't about failing schools at that point, because the 

option would be between a high-performing middle school and a high-performing private 

school.

Mr. Crist. Well, we can debate what initially triggers it, but what initially triggers it is a 

failing school and an opportunity for a parent to make a choice. 

Mr. George Miller. Well, from some of the other testimony what triggers it is if on safe 

passage - if the school receives an “F” grade two years in a row, which means I guess that 

the school would be unsafe, you could go to a private school for whatever time you have 

remaining. 

Mr. Crist. That hasn't been passed yet. That's a proposal. 

Mr. George Miller. Oh, that's a proposal? 

Mr. Crist. Yes. 

Mr. George Miller. Because I was going to say I think if you had enough on public 

safety two years in a row and students fled and you knew it and you didn't correct it, I 

suspect you'd be meeting the trial lawyers. 

Mr. Crist. I'm sure you would. 

Mr. George Miller. You know, long before that.

Mr. Crist. The sheriff, too, probably. 

Mr. George Miller. I just don't know if you're setting up - what I don't understand is it 

seems like you're setting up a set of triggers so more and more people can escape the 

public system, but the burden, it would seem to me to be, is to make that school safe. 

Mr. Crist. It is. 

Mr. George Miller. Well, then why would you accept that it could be unsafe for two 

years in a row? If you knew it had an F on safety, on safe passage, you know, as I 

understand the law, you now have a liability or an obligation or a burden and all of the 

rest of the things that go with it, to make it safe immediately. 

Mr. Crist. I think you've come up with probably the first amendment to that bill for this 

session, one year. Seriously, I'm not being trite. 

Mr. George Miller. No. I'm not saying you're trite. I just don't understand. I appreciate 

this notion that the failing school triggers the public choice, but then the public choice 

runs for 12 years, or it can run for eight or nine years in spite of what the public system is 

doing in that area. 

Mr. Crist. But at the option of the parent. 

Mr. George Miller. I understand that it's at the option of the parent, but let me suggest to 

you that the option is a little bit deceptive to other parents, because if I'm the parent of a 
22

middle school child in a really good middle school and I want my child to go to a private 

school, I don't get that option, because they didn't attend a failing elementary school. So 

what you ought to do is enroll your kid in a failing school so then you can go. 

Mr. Crist. The idea is to have no failing schools. 

Mr. George Miller. I understand. We're obviously on different sides of the issues on 

vouchers, but I don't get how the continuum goes. You know, it's like continuing to take 

the medicine after you're well. You probably wouldn't recommend that. You'd say now 

go back to your job and do what you were doing before that. 

 Let me ask you in a sense of - I don't know if you can describe this, but the 

difference. Sometimes we see these remarkable recoveries in schools but something tells 

you maybe nothing really has changed. How do you set these margins between a failing 

school and a “D,” and a “D” and a “C”? I mean, what would be - maybe one of the 

superintendents would be - what's the real hurdle to change categories? I mean, is it so 

finely tuned that one student could move you up or down in a 500-student elementary 

school? 

Mr. Till. Potentially a small number of students can move you from an “F” to a “D.’’ It 

takes a much larger number of students to move you from a “D”' to a “C.” In my 

opinion, it's harder to go from a “D” to a “C” than a “C” to an “A.” 

Mr. George Miller. It's harder to move those two? 

Mr. Till. It's harder to move from a “D” to a “C.” 

Mr. George Miller. Why is that? 

Mr. Till. Because it requires a higher level of achievement - 

Mr. George Miller. Across the board? 

Mr. Till. - across the board, 60th percentile or something like that. So I support the 

standards. But it's easier to go from an “F” to a “D,” in my opinion, because you can 

focus on the lower-achieving student or the student in the second quarter to bump that up. 

If you just aggregate your data like we can, you can target the students; we didn't do that. 

 We struggle like a lot of systems in Florida where there was probably too much 

emphasis on FCAT, which narrows the curriculum down. You narrow the curriculum 

down and take away the arts and the PE's in some schools to keep the A's. So you begin 

to water down the curriculum. So the real key is that you can focus on a small number of 

students - 

Mr. George Miller. You said, “water down the curriculum.” So you're what? 

Mr. Till. You're narrowing it down. 

Mr. George Miller. You're narrowing it. So you're getting rid of PE so you can spend 

more time on tasks to pass the test? 
23

Mr. Till. The national studies on testing and things such as these high stakes tests like the 

FCAT exist because people don't necessarily have those skills, so you begin to narrow the 

curriculum. They begin to bring in the test preps and those kinds of things like that. So 

some of the initial bump you get, being honest, is simply around test preparedness. And 

you get people - 

Mr. George Miller. In fact, that's the national experience, more or less. Isn't it? You get 

this kind of bump and then it starts to drop off after a couple of years? 

Mr. Till. I think I said earlier in my comments I support what we're doing in Florida. I 

think there are some things I would disagree with, but I think where we have to go is to 

get that next level of the NAEP and some of the other things. I think what you're going 

to begin to see is if you have a NAEP test is what Secretary Riley saw. If you are not 

aligning your curriculum around taking a NAEP test, and the NAEP is not aligned with 

the FCAT, you're not going to get the similar kinds of results. 

Mr. George Miller. As one who went to three years of law school, I understand teaching 

to the test. I spent three years, and they taught me to the bar exam. It was the only goal 

of the school was to get 90 percent of their students over to the bar exam, right? 

Mr. Till. Did you pass the bar exam? 

Mr. George Miller. Yes. 

Chairman Boehner. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Delaware - 

Mr. George Miller. You don't think I'd raise that subject - 

Mr. George Miller. It's the last test I took I ever passed. 

Mr. Castle. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me thank everybody here at the school and 

all of the other guests who came interested in education, and probably are dying to get up 

and say something. We're sorry we can't hear from all of you, but you can understand the 

confusion if we did. 

 Let me just say a couple of things. One is, we in the federal government are only 

responsible funding-wise for about 7 percent of all education. I think almost everybody 

here knows that, and we're limited in what we can do in terms of what's happening there. 

Most of that funding is through Title I, while the rest of it is for children with special 

needs and things of that nature. So we're not exactly the whole answer to education. 

 I would also say that I did not really know President Bush before he got elected. I 

am very impressed by his interest in education. I would encourage you to read his plan if 

you have not read it before, No Child Left Behind, because it does tell you a few things 

that I did not know before in terms of what his plan is. You read things differently in the 

newspaper.

 Also, we're probably going to be dealing with that in our committee and in the 

U.S. House of Representatives of the Unites States in the next two months. We are in a 

very short time frame in terms of what we're doing here. So if I ask any of you questions 

and you have input as to what you think we should be doing at the federal government, 
24

feel free to add that and perhaps not just discuss the local programs, because that's sort of 

what I'm looking for. I have questions for all of you but I'll get through a few of them 

and then the Chair will cut me off or whatever it may be. 

Mr. Crist, let me just start with you. I'm concerned a little bit about the FCAT testing in 

terms of what it tests. I sort of agree with Mr. George Miller to some degree. I mean, 

sometimes you see improvement and you wonder if it's really all that great or whatever it 

may be. I worry a little bit about teaching to the test, although that's probably the best 

way I learned. But having said that, I wouldn't want testing that's so narrow in scope that 

we're missing all the subjects that the kids should learn. 

 I don't know much about the FCAT testing program, but I just raise that question, 

too. I'll probably ask the superintendents, also, but I'll just ask you that question, if you 

would help me with that. 

Mr. Crist. Well, I think your point is well taken; we share that view. In fact, that's why 

we're going through an expansion of the subject matter that will be tested. Currently it 

tests reading, writing, and math. That is going to be expanded to include sciences and 

other topics as we progress. Please understand we've taken a giant step in education 

reform in our state. As I dare say, we're the first on a statewide basis, to have opportunity 

scholarships available. So we learn as we go and it is not a perfect system, but we 

believed that it was so important to get moving on it, that two years ago our legislature 

and our Governor got it done. 

 What do they say? The largest journey begins with one step, and we took the one 

step and it's a long journey that we're on. However, your point is well taken as I said at 

the outset. We will expand the subject matters that will be tested. We've heard the cry 

about teaching to the test. You know, when you talk about teaching to reading, writing, 

and arithmetic I don't know if that's a bad notion. We ought to be expanding it and we 

are about doing that. 

Mr. Castle. I'm not saying go crazy with expansion, but let me just also say as Mr. 

George Miller said, I believe in the NAEP testing as well, as a balance system. I had it 

the other way in my state. Our kids weren't doing well at all on the test. They took the 

NAEP test and did better than some other states were doing. It gave us a little bit of 

confidence that we were lacking there for a while. So I believe that is a necessary 

balance, and as everyone knows, that's a sampling. It's not disaggregated to the 

individual schools, districts, or anything of that nature. I think it's a very good tool for 

states to use. You wanted to add to that, Mr. Warford? 

Mr. Warford. I just wanted this committee to understand that in our district of 40,000 

students we did not narrow the curriculum. We simply focused on those skills. You 

cannot teach to the FCAT; FCAT measures reading and writing ability. You can only 

teach the knowledge and the skills that children need to master. 

 I come from an arts background; I support the arts. I do not believe that it's 

necessary to narrow or eliminate the curriculum. Now I will give you this as a factor. 

When we looked at our low-performing schools in Marion County, we had a third of our 

children who could not read. I'm going to put to you that as a leader I have to set 

priorities. The arts are not going to be of great value to a child who cannot read. So you 
25

must begin somewhere, which is where our state chose to begin. 

Mr. Castle. Let me ask you a question, Dr. Till, about Title I, if I may. We had a 

discussion with somebody in the audience about this before and I worry about this too. 

Are we broadening Title I too much in terms of the classification of schools income-wise 

that can be eligible for it? Are you satisfied with the federal formulas now in terms of 

how it helps or does not help you in your district? You have a large district. 

Mr. Till. I'm satisfied with the formulas. I think the focus that Congress gave a few 

years ago around poverty - when I was in my former district of San Diego, before you 

changed it about eight or ten years ago, you could actually have a school achieve and lose 

funding. Now with the poverty criteria it's much better. So I'm very pleased with it. I 

think we all would say that there is not enough money. So it's not the criteria, it's the 

amount of money, sir. 

Mr. Castle. Although, we have been increasing the funding in a lot of areas. That's 

something else, by the way. The federal government in the last half-dozen years has 

really been increasing the funding tremendously down to the states and the school 

districts.

 I did want to say to you, Ms. Zapata, I'm not sure I really had a question. I totally 

believe in what you said with respect to teacher preparation and how we're doing. I think 

it's something all of us who are interested in education need to pay more attention to. A 

lot of you had little comments about that in what you said. Please tell me very briefly 

about the Spalding method? 

Ms. Zapata. It's just been around since the '50s. It's the most incredible program; it's 

inexpensive. I train teachers at night because they are crying out for a program that 

teaches them how to teach reading. I have had comments from teachers, ``Darn, I've 

been teaching for 30 years and I knew there was something missing and Spalding is it.'' 

 I had another young teacher who came to me after class and said, “Oh, my gosh, I 

just graduated and I'm teaching SLD and I didn't know how to teach. Every night I 

prayed, please God, send me a way to teach reading. Thank you to you and Spalding.” 

It's been research-based that this is the way children learn. It's a very inexpensive 

program but it's a nonprofit organization and we can't be out there glitzy and, you know, 

getting business. 

 In Hillsborough County I train about 25 teachers every five weeks and we do it at 

night after teaching all day long, because these teachers do not know how to teach 

reading.

Mr. Castle. Thank you. May I ask one more question? This is to Dr. Robinson. I want 

to tell you what I sort of believe in with respect to vouchers. I'd be interested in your 

response to what I say. 

 I believe in public school choice. I'm from the State of Delaware and we have 

built a lot of public school choice into our system. I believe in charter schools managed 

correctly. I've never believed in vouchers per se, because I worry about the transfer 

system, too, and the wealthier kids taking the money and going to wealthier private 

schools or whatever it may be. But the plan that the President's proposed, which I'm 
26

looking at and I can tell you other members, both Republicans and Democrats, are 

looking at, is not anywhere near as comprehensive as I think some people believe. 

 Essentially, as we've heard here today, it says that for an actual voucher system 

you have to be a school, which has failed for three years, and after the first year you 

would receive money to get out of that failure and to improve yourself. The second year 

you would receive more money to do that, and then in the third year finally, the child 

would be allowed to transfer. By the way, it's a limited period of two years or until such 

time as the school improves. So you go back into the public school system in that 

circumstance if you elected to go to the private school system. Apparently they did this I 

think in Texas. Actually, I think that's correct. 

 The first year they had a big pool of schools, the second year they had a smaller 

pool of schools, and the third year they had one school where the vouchers actually went 

into place. At some point to me, you're no longer talking about vouchers with wealthy 

families transferring their kids to private schools, but all of a sudden you're talking about 

kids who really need help in schools that are really troubled. In that circumstance, is this 

something that would be worthwhile or not? You spoke very well on that subject and I 

was just interested in your views. I'm not trying to get you to endorse it or anything. I 

just want to make sure we're communicating as well as we can. I don't expect you to 

endorse it. 

Dr. Robinson. My primary problem is that these private schools that receive the voucher 

money are not held accountable. The other issue, quite frankly, is that in theory, I'm not 

saying this has happened, but the potential is there for, say, my child to go to such a 

private school with a voucher and once the check clears the bank they find a reason that 

he can't stay. You know, you could say its behavior. I mean, that's a classic one. 

Mr. Castle. That probably could be worked out, I would imagine. 

Dr. Robinson. Well, okay, we could work it out. But I want to make a point; you 

mentioned the increase in federal resources for education over the past few years. I 

mentioned in my comments that the money needs to be directed to the school district and 

not funneled through the state. Let me give you an example. 

 A couple of years ago the State of Florida put up $100 million to decrease class 

size, teacher recruiting and retention efforts. The next year the federal government put 

$50 million up. The state shifted their hundred million to the capital side. So we 

effectively decreased the money in the pool for the next year's budget for teacher 

recruiting and retention and decreasing class size with good teachers by 50 percent. So 

we need to get it into the classroom. Too many hands on it is not a good thing. 

Mr. Castle. That disconnect has been argued before. In fact, someone argued it has to go 

directly to the schools, not even the school district. 

Dr. Robinson. I have no problem with that. 

Chairman Boehner. The Chair recognizes Mr. Tiberi. 

Mr. Tiberi. It sounds like we have to eliminate the Department of Education, to be 

honest. Of the 73 students that you identified earlier as making that choice, or their 
27

parents made the choice, does the state have any statistical data on their socioeconomics 

or improvements in those students' test scores? 

Mr. Crist. We do. I regret to inform you that I don't have that information with me but I 

can certainly provide it to the committee. I would be more than happy to do so. I can tell 

you this; both of the schools that participated in opportunity scholarships are from inner 

city schools in Pensacola. 

Mr. Tiberi. Schools that have a majority free and reduced lunch? 

Mr. Crist. Yes, sir. That's correct. 

Mr. Tiberi. I was in the state legislature in Ohio prior to being elected to Congress and 

we initiated a school choice or voucher program in the Cleveland public schools. We 

targeted it, or limited it to low-income students always. No wealthy parents could apply.

So your thought is that the 73 students more than likely are coming from poor families? 

Mr. Crist. Indeed. That is correct. 

Mr. Tiberi. Okay. Dr. Robinson, help me understand your comments with respect to 

vouchers. If indeed we as policy-makers limit it to those children who are primarily 

coming from, or only coming from low-income families, let me give you my bias so you 

know exactly where I'm coming from. I'm the son of immigrants and I didn't have the 

opportunity to go to a private school. I'm a graduate of the second- largest school system 

in Ohio, an urban school system. 

 When I ran for the legislature over ten years ago, I was running against people 

who were opposed to innovation in public schools. They all had the opportunity to go to 

private schools but were arguing for the status quo with public schools, and many of them 

had their children in private schools. They were Republicans and Democrats. 

 In my school system where I live today, which is the same second-largest school 

system, I have a teacher that was one of my teachers and was recognized as one of the 

best teachers in the state. She is a veteran teacher and she's teaching in the same school 

system, the same school that I graduated from. She's one of the best teachers in the world 

as far as I'm concerned; she certainly helped me. She tells me today that she's a 

babysitter.

 Now I agree with your premise with respect to teacher preparedness. I think that's 

part of the equation, but she tells me another part of the equation is the inability to 

manage the classroom. That's a problem in many urban schools. Even though she has 

been offered jobs in other school systems, she has decided to stay because of location, 

number one, and number two, it doesn't pay for her to go to another school system 

because she has the years in at this particular school system for a variety of incentives 

that were bargained, which is another issue. 

 So I take that example and another example of a good friend of mine who is also 

teaching in that school system, who in this particular school along with most of the staff, 

moved out of that school district because they didn't want their children to go there. 
28

 In a sense we've had over the course of the last 20 years in America school 

choice. Those who could afford to move have moved; those who are poor cannot. Under 

that scenario how do we without having a safety valve at the end of the process of the 

federal government, as Mr. Castle said, provide additional resources to you as a local 

educator? If we do that, provide additional resources and intervention to that school, and 

the parent still is not seeing improvement in their child's education, and is a poor parent, 

tell me why we shouldn't allow for some sort of safety valve for that parent to take their 

child to another public school or a private school? I'm giving you my bias of where I'm 

coming from. 

Dr. Robinson. Okay. Obviously, you want to tug at my heartstrings, right? 

Mr. Tiberi. No. I'm just trying to -

Dr. Robinson. The issue is whether or not we're committed to improving the public 

schools. I mean, to me that's the issue. Now if you're talking about a limited program 

and if that private school has to accept and educate that child just as the public schools 

do. They cannot give them any excuses to kick them out of the door. I've got like, 10 or 

15 ifs I could give you, then I could think about it, okay? My commitment is to the 

public school system because that's where the masses of children are. 

 Let me tell you, my oldest boy went to a Catholic school for kindergarten, okay? 

I took him out right after the Christmas program, my husband will tell you, because you 

know, I'm sorry I was born black in this country and that's the way I see the world. When 

we couldn't even have any black angels in the Christmas program, I'm thinking what are 

they telling my child on a day-to-day basis? Maybe that's why his eyes are dull, instead 

of the life that he had in his eyes when he came home from preschool. So I put my child 

in the public school and worked to change it, and that's where I've been ever since. 

 We can outline those 25 ifs, okay? But I want the parents who are afraid of 

private schools to have a good education for their children as well. 

Mr. Tiberi. But what's the alternative if we don't have a safety valve for parents? 

Dr. Robinson. You're assuming we can't fix the schools. 

Mr. Tiberi. No. I'm saying that what I'm assuming is that the parent knows what's best 

for the child. If you do the intervention over a three-year period, you put in more money, 

and you allow for more local control and for some reason it doesn't work, what's the 

alternative for the child and for the parent who is frustrated with the particular situation 

of a failing school and their child not progressing? If it's not the President's proposal, 

what's another alternative? 

Dr. Robinson. I'll write a proposal for you if you want me to. I mean, but the issue is we 

have to save the public schools, okay? My mother is probably rolling over in her grave, 

but I could try to list those 25 ifs for you that would allow me to consider public dollars 

going to a private school. But I'm going to tell you; it would include the open-armed 

acceptance of any child that walks in there. Just as the public schools have to open their 

arms and accept any child that walks in there, okay, as well as the accountability. 
29

 I just want to make another point. You are assuming that the parents know what 

their children need to do. The fact of the matter is that all too many of the students who 

are not doing well in our system have parents who were failed by the educational system 

as well. Are you telling me to stop talking? 

Chairman Boehner. No. His time is up. 

Dr. Robinson. Okay. May I finish my point? 

Chairman Boehner. Yes, you may. 

Dr. Robinson. All too many of those children's parents were failed by the educational 

system as well. They are intimidated by the school system. I'm on the school board; I go 

to meet with my child's teacher and I'm like, “Yes, ma’am.” Okay? I mean, you are 

intimidated by the authority figures and then you don't know what your child is supposed 

to do. So when they say that your child is doing well, or that the best thing for your child 

is to go to the emotionally handicapped program, you just walk down that path. 

 So let's not assume that the children that I'm trying to save, the ones that make me 

cry, let's not assume that their parents really know what the benchmarks are. Those 

benchmarks are hard, okay? My baby is studying for FCAT now. That stuff is hard, and I 

can imagine them being overwhelmed if they even see it. It's our job, it's your job, to 

support the people who are in that classroom in whatever way we can. I'm telling you its 

teacher preparedness; we have got to support them. Do you want to give me $12 million? 

I need two weeks' staff development added to my calendar. 

Chairman Boehner. The Chair recognizes our host, Mr. Dan Miller. 

Mr. Daniel Miller. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you again for coming to Manatee 

County. I'm not a member of this committee, so I appreciate the opportunity to sit on this 

panel. I'm on the appropriations side, so I do get involved in the education issues. 

 I'm glad to see George Miller here. George is my neighbor on Capitol Hill, but 

we have different legislation and we agree on a lot of different things. We have a Miller 

and Miller Bill in Congress. It's the Sugar Bill. Some of you all have known me to take 

on the sugar industry. 

Mr. George Miller. I was going to mention that when I left the state. 

Mr. Daniel Miller. We didn't publicize that we were coming here because we had a 

limited audience capacity, but I see four members of our school board from Manatee 

County here. There was a mention of charter schools. I see Vicki Marlboro, who runs a 

charter school that's run with the sheriff's office. It's designed for middle school students 

who are going down the wrong path. They're not adjudicative problems, but it has been 

very effective. Vicki is sitting right behind Ms. Trejo. We have some very good charter 

schools here that I think have had some success. 

 Let me ask a question. This continues with what Dr. Robinson said, but I'm going 

to ask Ms. Trejo first and then if anyone else wants to chime in they are welcome. 
30

 One of the concerns about education is, the kids are in your schools 200 days a 

year, seven hours a day or something like that. I mean, it's not a lot in terms of total time; 

they are outside and the parents have that influence. We can't legislate good parents. You 

obviously are really motivated to take care of your kids and I think most people in this 

room are, but what can we do to help motivate parents to participate? I mean, maybe you 

can't. I was here Monday to visit the school and they were talking about one child who 

has both of her parents in prison, so you can't do anything. The people who are on the 

ground see these types of problems. What can we do to help the parents to be motivated 

to be good parents, to get good quality education? I mean, I'm not sure we can legislate 

it.

Ms. Trejo. I don't know. As far as I'm concerned my son, who came from a public 

school where his grades were very low, it was the one-on-one education that he got that 

made me feel good that my he was progressing. I can't speak for anybody else, you 

know, but as a parent I thought that seeing all this turn around within a few days made 

me really want to get involved. My son was 11 or 12, and all this time in public schools 

they were saying, “Your son needs to be on medication, your son is this, your son is 

that.” It got to a point where I believed that, too. 

Mr. Daniel Miller. You deal with other parents because of your kid's friends. What 

would help motivate them to be better parents and better support the education of their 

children? Or, let me see if anyone else - Dr. Till? 

Mr. Till. Well, first off, the population you're talking about is the most difficult 

population we have in America. I think if we're all honest, it's the population that truly is 

falling through the cracks. It is probably the population in which the child is being left 

behind.

 I think what we have to begin to do is look at our community. Very seldom have I 

ever met a parent who was initially anti-school. They may have had a bad experience in 

school. We've got to begin to work with our community agencies and things such as that 

to start saving some of the parents and getting them involved. You can't have a parent 

have that child ready for school unless that parent knows how to read. So Head Start, the 

preschool programs and those kinds of things like that. 

 For example, in the Title I's that you've talked about in President Bush's proposal; 

some of the preschool money in Title I can be used to begin to bridge those gaps. But we 

also need to have a parent program to give them the skills, because they're not in the 

workforce or are in our low-level jobs in Broward County. As the economy slips down, 

those are the jobs that are going to go away and they are not transportable to other jobs. 

 We really have to have an economic base in this country that makes sure those 

parents can get jobs and skills, and we don't leave any parent behind. 

Ms. Zapata. At my school we have a very open-door policy. I work primarily with 

bilingual parents who speak no English. They know they can come to my portable any 

time they want. I help them fill out college applications, I take them to doctor's 

appointments, I have a breakfast for them, and we just fill the need that's there. They will 

do anything I ask of them because they totally trust me. 
31

 The reason we have so many parents that don't know how to parent is that it is just 

a vicious cycle. We have to get to every child by teaching them to read. No child comes 

to school wanting to fail. However, it’s the result of year after year of not being taught 

and them thinking it's their fault. That is why we have so many failing students, because 

they have not been taught. I see it every day. 

Mr. Daniel Miller. What can we do legislatively? Is there anything Congress can do? 

Mr. Till. Excuse me. I think you have to make sure that the dollars coming are targeted 

for those kinds of kids. For example, in our district for America Reads and the America 

Programs, we have made a commitment with our universities that students in those 

programs will teach our foster kids how to read. That's an example where another 

program is falling through the cracks. I think that's the kind of thing for targeting 

assistance to these kids. 

Ms. Zapata. And we need good programs. Spalding is so inexpensive, but the thinking 

is that because it is so inexpensive it must not be good. You know, we're not glitzy, we 

just teach every child. We are perfectly capable of teaching every child. 

Mr. Warford. I would like to share with this committee that my passion for this issue 

stems from the fact that my mother was a 14-year-old school dropout. I come from a 

very poor section of Kentucky. 

 There is only one institution in this society that is capable of breaking this cycle 

as it has been identified, and those are our public schools. I am a passionate advocate for 

our public schools. I am a more passionate advocate for those poor children within those 

schools. I want to leave this committee with one thought. It was the threat of vouchers 

that forced the school district in my county and the people in my county to come to terms 

with that problem. Because of the increased accountability, we could no longer just push 

those schools and those students aside. Don't miss that point; it's very easy to get 

sidetracked here. 

 The voucher law in Florida was masterfully written. I don't want vouchers in my 

county because I don't want failing schools, because I don't want children like myself to 

continue that cycle of poverty and ignorance. Our schools and our teachers need our 

support. I really appreciate the opportunity to share with you today. 

Chairman Boehner. I think there are several more questions then we'll wrap up. I 

recognize Mr. Miller from California. 

Mr. George Miller. Thank you. A couple of questions for the superintendents. What is 

it that you want to do in your school that Title I doesn't allow you to do, or that ESCA 

doesn't allow you to do? 

Mr. Till. I think the biggest thing when we look at the barriers around Title I is simply 

the requirements around the paperwork and the planning. I would be more than willing 

to be held accountable for Jeb Bush's plan. I'm not afraid of vouchers. I'm not afraid of 

the President's plan; very honestly, I wouldn't have any under his plan either. I don't have 

any under Governor Bush's plan; I don't have any. I think the real key is if we really 

could be held accountable and then freed up to simply focus on a few things like reading; 

where we really could begin to say that as a nation, that no child would leave the third 
32

grade without reading. Then we put the resources there and we don't underfund it. We 

don't just talk about it but we begin to fund it. I would be more than willing to be held 

accountable based on that assessment, for my third graders being able to read. 

Mr. George Miller. Can I just ask you to elaborate on - you used the term - what did you 

say? Paperwork and - 

Mr. Till. My poor building principals and my poor teachers, through things I impose on 

them, things Commissioner Crist imposes on them, things that we, a collective 

symbolism impose, spend a good deal of their teaching time and prep time doing 

paperwork. My principals spend a good deal of their time dealing with paperwork. It's 

not just for me; it's the collective group. 

 If we could really begin to focus on teaching, and as you've heard from my left so 

passionately, a lot of my time when my teachers are not with my students they are doing 

paperwork. My teacher contract is loaded with language to give them more planning 

time to do the paperwork. I'd like to see us get rid of the paper burden and simplify the 

accountability around student achievement for reading. So they can spend that time 

learning how to teach reading, whether it's this method or not, and that we would focus 

on it. 

Mr. George Miller. Where would you - this isn't meant to be flippant because I don't - 

where would you move the paperwork to? Would you move it to the district level? 

Mr. Till. I would move it to the district level, but I'd also make it accountable where we 

would not have plans. We in the school system have shelves full of plans that we spend 

the resources to plan. I would talk about - 

Mr. George Miller. The argument obviously is, and I don't know that it has been fully 

achieved because let's not pretend like anybody at the federal level is enforcing this law.

You may be filling out the forms but there is nobody reading your answers. 

Mr. Till. Right. 

Mr. George Miller. Obviously we're talking about a population here, and certainly the 

President is talking about it. A lot of people are going to look to see whether this is real 

or not at some point in this legislative process, about many of the most difficult and the 

poorest children from the most difficult environments, and the target in these funds is 

obviously very important if you are going to have a chance. 

Mr. Till. Correct. 

Mr. George Miller. And that's why this argument continues to break down. It's not as 

simple as consolidation versus targeting. It really is about, are we all using this money 

for the same purpose? You know, if you backed up from the district level, you could 

argue that in a number of states somebody is allowing huge disparities in effort and 

monies to these districts. If you go to the district level in the district I represent, I have 

one of the best schools in the state and I have the worst school in the state. Well, they are 

both elementary schools here and they're both in the same district, but there's a huge 

disparity between what's going on in both of these and the School Board's tolerating it for 
33

whatever reasons. 

 So you know, I think it's crazy. When I talk to principals I'm surprised they don't 

all just walk off the job, okay? There are people on their school site that they don't even 

know why they are there. Because somebody started a Healthy Start Program, a Youth 

Start Program, a Behind Start Program, this program they say, ``We didn't ask for this. 

The other principal asked for this, and now I'm here and I've got to administer this 

program.'' 

 Where do you go and get the level of paperwork that makes some sense and holds 

you accountable? Now in my state, don't hold me to this but I think I'm pretty close to 

true, my state superintendent of schools is funding 70 to 80 percent of her operation out 

of Title I. I don't think I'm getting those kinds of services, but I'm sure as hell funding it.

So where is that place where you slot it in the right place so we don't continue the status 

quo, which is this massive disparity between rich and poor schools, not just districts but 

schools? I'd be happy to take a written answer because it's absolutely crucial to this 

debate.

Mr. Till. I will do that. 

Mr. George Miller. It is absolutely crucial to this debate, in terms of the allocation of 

resources and where some of us come down on the issues that many of you have raised 

here today. 

Mr. Till. I tell people if I, speaking for myself, could get the burden off my principals 

and teachers I would increase my educational dollar without a new dollar. However, I 

need more. I'm not going to say I don't need new dollars. I think that's the real key. We 

need more dollars and we in the public school system are willing to be held accountable. 

But hold us accountable based upon student results, not based on paperwork. That's the 

transition we're making in Florida, California, where I came from, and Washington, D.C. 

A lot of the results have been around paperwork. Even though people don't read them, 

sooner or later they came and looked at them. So you knew you did them by some form. 

 I kid the people in Florida, being from California, that sometimes I questioned 

where the rules were coming from because people make up different rules. You 

appointed me and I see different rules. We've got to get the bureaucracy on which I'm 

committed to, and then be held accountable for teaching students how to read and make a 

national commitment to put the dollars behind that. 

Chairman Boehner. I certainly am in agreement with Mr. Miller, and I'm on the other 

end of the political spectrum. We want the federal dollars, and the small role that we 

play in K-12 education, focused on the kids who most need the help. So if you look at 

the President's proposal, there is a great deal of accountability and the tradeoff is more 

flexibility. We need to have some comfort zone when we talk about flexibility so that the 

money will actually get to the students where it's necessary. 

 If you use the example of the two schools in George's district, one is very good 

and the other is the worst one in the entire state. I would not feel comfortable allowing 

something like that to exist. So we need your help, we need your input, and - 
34

Mr. Till. Could I say something? 

Chairman Boehner. Yes. 

Mr. Till. I support what President Bush is doing about state accountability. The reality is 

with Commissioner Crist to my right, in the State of Florida, I cannot get my lowachievement schools off the “D”' to the “C” list, which is our goal, without federal 

dollars. There is not enough money coming to me from the State of Florida. 

 So if you hold us in Florida accountable even by the A-Plus Plan and give us the 

dollars, we will be held accountable by our state standards, and I support that. 

Chairman Boehner. Mr. Crist? 

Mr. Castle. Can I just follow up on all that? I was going to ask this, anyway. It's what 

you said, Dr. Till. I'd like to hear from any of the superintendents briefly if we could. 

You said something to the effect that federal dollars should be targeted for those kinds of 

kids, referring to poorer kids and kids that move around, etcetera. 

 If we get into this argument on an ideological basis in Washington, on flexibility 

with respect to these funds, that means non-targeting. That means we will return the 

funds to you almost in the form of a block grant, or something close to that, as opposed to 

targeting for particular kids. 

 Does that accommodate what you're saying, because you're confident that the 

state and the local districts would still make that decision? Are you saying something 

very different, which is, you need to focus it even more to make sure that these kids get 

the funds? Do you want to comment on what we talked about a little bit earlier, the state 

getting the money versus the local districts and even schools getting it? I get confused 

about what exactly the expectations in the local area, states on down, are with respect to 

what we should be doing in Washington. 

Mr. Till. In Broward County our position is that we want the dollars targeted to the 

students, but with flexibility to deliver the accountability. We aren't looking for a broad 

block grant that goes over to hold us accountable. We want to target it to the students, 

because if you don't target it to the disadvantaged students there is a potential that it could 

be used in other ways. 

 We have no problem with targeting for the most disadvantaged of our students, 

but please give us the flexibility to determine the methodology to meet the accountability. 

We believe that if you tell us how to do it, then you should be held accountable, not us. 

Mr. Castle. Do you agree with that? 

Mr. Warford. Absolutely. I want to make it absolutely clear that in Marion County it 

was Title I dollars that allowed us to improve our three lowest-performing schools, our 

three “F” schools. Make sure that those dollars are focused on low achieving students, 

and then give us the flexibility to decide how we spend them. But don't give us the 

flexibility to decide where we spend them or we'll be spending them on some of the rich 

schools in his district, or to support his commissioner. 
35

 It was only the Florida accountability system that focused our attention on those 

low-performing schools to begin with, so accountability and flexibility. 

Chairman Boehner. I want to thank all of our witnesses for their testimony, and thank 

you for your willingness to answer our questions. I also want to thank the audience who 

has come out to show their interest. 

Again, I want to thank Ms. West, the principal here, for all of her hospitality. And if there 

is no further business, the committee will stand adjourned. 

Whereupon, at 11:55 a.m., the Committee was adjourned. 
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Table of Indexes 

Chairman Boehner, 1, 4, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 23, 26, 29, 31, 33, 34, 35 

Dr. Robinson, 14, 16, 17, 20, 26, 28, 29 

Mr. Castle, 23, 24, 25, 26, 34 

Mr. Crist, 4, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27 

Mr. Daniel Miller, 29, 30, 31 

Mr. George Miller, 3, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 29, 31, 32, 33 

Mr. Tiberi, 26, 27, 28 

Mr. Till, 9, 22, 23, 25, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 

Mr. Warford, 7, 17, 24, 31, 34 

Mrs. Trejo, 13 

Ms. Zapata, 11, 25, 30, 31