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May Capitol Hill Watch Alert

Vote Expected in the Full House on the
No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (H.R. 1)

The No Child Left behind Act of 2001 (H.R. 1) may be voted on by the full House as early as May 16, 2001. The measure fails to offer vouchers to low-income parents who have children in poorly performing public schools. However, to purchase after-school tutoring for their children, the bill would give qualified low-income parents vouchers they could use to enroll children in private, remedial tutoring services. Unfortunately, the measure lets schools fail for four years before any vouchers are given to parents. (For more information about this bill, visit http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:h.r.00001:)

Straight A's, which would give states virtually unfettered freedom to shift money not only between programs but between districts for states that agree to meet high specified goals for student performance, is not included in the bill.

Furthermore, states would be allowed to measure student performance using different tests during different years. For example, states could not accurately compare results of these disparate exams because schools would be allowed to use local exams one year and commercially available national tests the next.

Please urge your representative not to support the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Although the measure does yield greater accountability, its testing provision would not provide accurate information on the results their efforts are achieving and parents are not offered enough choice so their children have greater opportunities to achieve. The academic ills of American schools can only be cured by fundamental reform that strives to increase academic achievement through less regulation, accountability and academic achievement through school choice.

What Can You Do?

Send a message to your national congressman expressing your opposition to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

Contact Information:

Call your representative and urge him/her to reject the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (H.R. 1).

Capitol Hill Switchboard Numbers: 202-225-3121 or 202-224-3121 (Those numbers will direct you to the Capitol Hill operator. Ask for your representative's office.)

To go to your representative's website, find his E-mail or to find out who your representatives are... http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html

To electronically mail your U.S. House of Representative, go to http://www.house.gov/htbin/wrep_findrep.

Addressing Correspondence:

The Honorable (full name)
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representative (last name):

To view a sample letter to a congressman, go to http://www.americanvoiceinstitute.org/NoChildLeftBehindLetter.htm

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