AFT gearing up to fight--but prefers cooperation
New political landscape could threaten gains made by public schools

What will be the fate of legislative proposals to reduce class size and repair rundown schools under the new leadership in the White House? Will vouchers and block grants for Title I again rear their ugly heads during this session of Congress?

These are some of the questions that confront the AFT and its members in the new political world that the nation has embarked upon in the aftermath of November's elections. Both the White House and some congressional leaders may be poised to push for regressive measures--such as vouchers, block grants and the elimination of the federal E-rate program--that could threaten the recent gains in achievement made by public school students.

The AFT will be closely monitoring the legislative proposals coming from Congress and the Bush administration and is prepared, if necessary, to mount an all-out fight to protect public schools and educators from wrongheaded notions about how best to reform schools. However, the union stands ready to work with the Bush administration and leaders on Capitol Hill on legislation aimed at improving the quality of education for all public school students.

"There's a real opportunity to create a consensus on those issues on which we can all agree," AFT president Sandra Feldman says.

In Texas, she points out, the AFT state federation and the Bush administration were able to work together on the implementation of a successful reading program.

One of the national union's chief concerns is the future of the Title I program, which provides funding to school districts with high concentrations of poor students. The union will fight any attempts to block grant Title I, which would weaken its effectiveness.

With the Senate evenly split at 50-50 and a razor-thin Republican majority in the House of Representatives, bipartisanship will be essential to the passage of any significant pieces of federal legislation. Among the items to be dealt with: reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which includes Title I, and consideration of a Patients' Bill of Rights and a prescription drug benefit for senior citizens.

"President Bush ran on the theme of bringing bipartisanship to Washington," AFT's director of federal legislation Charlotte Fraas says. "The real question now is whether that message has gotten through to Congress."

The AFT, she says, will make every effort to reach out and work with those members of Congress who want to end the gridlock that marked the last Congress.

American Federation of Teachers, AFL•CIO - 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW - Washington, DC 20001