A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

   FOR RELEASE                              Contact:  Kathryn Kahler    March 9, 1995                                      (202) 401-3026

Statement by U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley regarding Effect of House Committee Proposed FY95 Rescissions On Urban Public Schools

The recent action by the House Committee on Appropriations, eliminating $1.7 billion in essential education funding for local communities, is shortsighted and done with apparently little thought as to who would suffer the most.

These cuts are particularly devastating because they pull the rug out from schools across the nation that are just beginning to improve and to make headway in the battle for excellence in education.

The significance of these cuts is clearly demonstrated by a survey of some of the losses that urban public schools would suffer, a compilation released today by the Council of the Great City Schools.

The students and communities in the 31 school systems examined would lose more than 228 million education dollars for things like school safety, technology in classrooms, vocational education, dropout prevention services, quality teachers, Goals 2000 funds and other essential programs. These cuts would cause an irreparable loss to the future of these students, many of whom are the most vulnerable in our society and who already face great challenges and severe funding disparities in their school districts.

We need to invest in our future, not shortchange it. I am hopeful, for the sake of our children, that when the full House considers this measure it realize the imprudence of these actions and correct them.