Clinton: Waive Education Regs

President Clinton Monday told a White House gathering of the nation's governors he will send Congress legislation allowing each state to waive most statutory and regulatory requirements concerning federal aid to schools.

The legislation would expand access to the existing Ed-Flex demonstration from the 12 states now covered to the rest of the nation. However, states must be able to waive their own regulations, according to a White House statement, which said the states must "provide the same flexibility to local schools with respect to their own education regulations" as Clinton is providing to them.

Among actions the states must perform in return are: setting academic standards; measuring student performance; and intervening with poorly performing schools. The White House said the proposal would affect all programs covered by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

National Governors' Association Chairman George Voinovich, an Ohio Republican, pronounced the governors pleased with the proposal and with other efforts to devolve power to the states, such as the recently enacted welfare reform law. However, in remarks delivered to open the meeting, Voinovich voiced strong opposition to what he said was a growth in HHS regulations concerning welfare. "We think those regs have nothing to do with measuring our success and everything to do with trying to determine if our states are cheating," Voinovich said.

The governors also floated with the White House a new proposal to grant more transportation funding to the states without exceeding the budget caps, Voinovich said.

Voinovich also presented Clinton with 12 initiatives combining categorical programs into block grants for the states, asking that the agencies with jurisdiction over each area analyze the proposals. NGA Vice Chairman Tom Carper, a Delaware Democrat, said the "sleeper" issue in the discussions was the taxation of products sold via the Internet, and Voinovich announced a meeting between NGA officials and the industry to discuss the issue.