From the National Governors' Association, December, 2000.
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The vote to take up the bill was 96-3. White House and Senate negotiators are trying to define what a failing school is as they develop legislation built around Bush's plan to strip some federal funds from schools that don't measure up. Republican Senate aides said the negotiators had reached a tentative agreement in which states and school districts would have to set aside funds for student tutoring if schools don't meet their improvement goals and if students in different demographic groups fail to make some progress. Bush had proposed linking students' scores on annual tests to federal funding, punishing schools that showed little progress over three years. A current Senate plan would take money from failing schools and allow students to use it on tutoring or for transportation to another public school.