Bob Kerrey: “I do intend, after a considerable amount of deliberation on the subject, to vote for the Goals 2000 proposal of the…”

“I do intend, after a considerable amount of deliberation on the subject, to vote for the Goals 2000 proposal of the President. I have some significant reservations but I spoke to a number of the cosponsors of the legislation and I spoke with Secretary Riley. The reservations you shared with me recently concerning S. 1150, the Goals 2000/Educate America Act, prompted me to double-check the substance and trust of this major piece of legislation. The language clearly states that nothing in the legislation can be interpreted by ``any federal official to mandate, direct, or control the curriculum or program of a state, local education agency [school district], or school, or the allocation of State and local resources.'' It also provides financial support for systemic school reform, a new form of assistance that has been missing from the federal array of narrow and mostly top-down categorical federal education programs.”