Steven Gunderson: “Mr. Chairman and Members, this is probably one of the more important amendments in the bill, because it really…”

“Mr. Chairman and Members, this is probably one of the more important amendments in the bill, because it really represents what this bill has become, not what I think it was intended to be all about. Unfortunately, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Goodling] said, there are no less than 23 new reporting requirements already included in this legislation; the fact is that if you will look at the bill, you will find, beginning in section 111 and going through section 118, what the State and local plans must require. Literally, you will find 57 pages of legislative mandates that must be included. Those 57 pages of mandated requirements in State and Federal plans are going to transfer into how many untold pages of reporting requirements at the local level when the rules and the regulations are published. The amendment that I am offering says we get a little bit carried away when we require schools to report down to the very last single percentile, and that is exactly the language that I am trying to delete from the bill. The language was included in the committee that requires that every school receiving chapter 1 funds must prove that at least 1 percent of their funds are being used for parental involvement programs.”