Representative Augustus Hawkins, outgoing chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor, stunned state governments and the education community in January by introducing a bill requiring each state to certify that its public education funds are or will be equalized by 1996, contingent on federal funding redistribution penalties. (MLH)

Washington is totally ignorant about what takes place in schools and would rather fingerpoint than exercise true leadership. President Bush assumes that minimal vouchers to attend expensive private schools (with selective admission standards) will make a difference, ignoring the issues of financial inequity and inadequate city services. Meanwhile,…

Confronted by last fall's budget crunch, President Bush and the Congress agreed to ignore the deficit, revise the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings budget reduction process, and focus attention on capping total spending. Domestic programs will be allowed a $12 billion increase. Education's position is unclear, because it must compete with farms, bridges, and…

With the federal education budget for fiscal 1989 barely exceeding inflation costs, pressure is mounting for greater federal participation in educational finance--even from business and industry. Numerous schemes, such as a payroll tax and a college scholarship fund for women and minorities, are suggested and major roadblocks discussed. (MLH)

Local school districts are suffering from Washington's ongoing antipublic education rhetoric. Educators cannot write fat campaign checks, but they can effectively lobby members of Congress through the AASA Legislative Corps. Now is the time to turn activist and help shape public policy. Supporting the Children's Investment Trust is a good start.…

Children's Investment Trust is a proposed trust fund for children's services (nutrition, health, education, and social services) similar in design to Social Security fund. The trust would be funded by a small, progressive payroll tax levied on both employer and employee on wages greater than $5 per hour. The tax would raise $25 billion more every…

Mary Jean LeTendre, director of U.S. Education Department's Office of Compensatory Education, wants to concentrate Chapter 1 dollars on the neediest students in the neediest schools. John F. Jennings, general counsel for the House Education and Labor Committee, predicts more public education funding, a continuing push for national standards and…

Given the state of Chapter 1 funding, regular and special education advocates must fight for higher federal and state special education funding, resist legislators' efforts to divide their common child advocacy interests, work to entitle both special education and economically and educationally disadvantaged children under federal funding…