Bill Clinton
President Clinton has named Andrew J. Rotherham, an education policy expert now working with a prominent organization of centrist Democrats, to serve as his White House education adviser for the next six months.
A Republican proposal to restructure federal funding for teacher hiring, professional development, and local reform programs has attracted the support of some congressional Democrats.
GOP Bill Would Restructure Clinton Class-Size Initiative
The House Education and the Workforce Committee approved a measure to restructure President Clinton's class-size-reduction plan on June 30, the day before $1.2 billion in fiscal 1999 funding for the program was mailed to states.
New job for Cohen
President Clinton this month nominated his former White House education adviser, Michael Cohen, to serve as the assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education at the Department of Education.
Faced with what they fear will be monumental cuts in federal funding, education groups, the White House, and some congressional Republicans are looking for a way to wiggle out of the tight budget framework set for the coming fiscal year.
Congressional Republicans say they want the National Center for Education Statistics to be free from the day-to-day political influence of future presidential administrations.
The Clinton administration is hoping this year to raise substantially the amount of federal education dollars distributed on a competitive basis. Such a move would build on a category of federal spending that, while still relatively small, has grown rapidly in the past few years.
Even if Congress keeps a promise to substantially raise federal education spending this year, one thing seems likely: Secondary school students will see a disproportionately small share of the money.