As House and Senate appropriators concentrated on a controversial educational testing amendment Thursday, the Senate, without much fanfare, approved a more far-reaching Republican plan that would convert virtually all federal elementary and secondary education programs into a block grant.
"You name it, it's in there," one Senate Democratic aide said. "It's enormous."
While analysts were still determining the exact impact, one Democratic aide said it appeared that almost all elementary and secondary education programs, except special education, would be folded into the block grant.
Most education lobbyists paid much more attention to the national testing issue than they did to the block grant, which was offered by Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., and Senate Budget Chairman Domenici and approved Thursday by 51-49.
"They didn't pay enough attention to it," the Senate Democratic aide said.
While the Senate debated the amendment Wednesday night, even House Education and the Workforce Chairman Goodling, usually on top of educational developments on Capitol Hill, did not see this one coming.
"It was a shock when I heard it," Goodling said a few hours after it passed the Senate, adding Gorton "must have kept it up his sleeve."
Senate Majority Whip Nickles said that some members may have underestimated the amendment while concentrating on the issue of national testing.
"Maybe they assumed it wasn't going to pass," he said.
Education lobbyists were aware of the amendment, said Edward Kealy, executive director of the Committee for Education Funding, a coalition of education groups.
"We'll be looking at it a lot more intensively," Kealy said, adding it changes the traditional role of the federal government in elementary and secondary education.
The Senate, he said, "legislated on the spur of the moment."
Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said the proposal struck a chord in the Senate.
"I think it reflects a lot of sentiment about federal intrusion into education," he said.
And while many assume the proposal will be dumped in conference, Specter said he wanted to "preserve protocol" and not make any assumptions about what will survive the conference committee.
In the House, a key conservative said he is trying to figure out a way to offer a similar amendment before the House completes action on the Labor-HHS appropriations bill next week.
"We're pretty thrilled about it," said Rep. Mark Souder, R- Ind. He said even if it is not added in the House, it still strengthens the hands of conservatives.
"It certainly makes us much more optimistic going into conference," he said.
Others were not quite as positive. "That'll make for an interesting conference," a wide-eyed House Appropriations Chairman Livingston said when informed of the Senate amendment. "So much for getting the bill signed."
House Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Edward Porter, R-Ill., was blunter, saying, "I think that gets back to something very akin to revenue sharing, which everyone condemned."
Meanwhile, the block grant is not the only education-related problem likely to confront conferees.
Goodling said a Senate-passed amendment to allow a current national assessment governing board to work on tests is unacceptable.
The House next week will consider a Goodling amendment that would prohibit the federal government from developing national tests.
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