Like many children across New Hampshire, my daughter Lucy went back to school this week. With my daughter in third grade at Peterborough Elementary School, I am very concerned about public education. Despite significant government spending on education, the U.S. continues to rank near the bottom of industrialized nations in student test scores. Unfortunately, 40 years of big government policies have mired our schools in red tape and produced mediocre results.

If we are committed to improving our country's education system, it is crucial that the federal government give local schools and school districts the ability to spend federal education dollars as they see fit, not on senseless mandates from Washington. As your Representative in Congress, I have supported several efforts to return dollars and decisions back home to parents, teachers and administrators who know our children's names and their education needs.

The Education Flexibility (Ed-Flex) Act of 1999, which was signed into law in April, will give the nation's school districts more flexibility to tailor federal education assistance to meet the needs of their students. The bill gives states and local school districts the authority to waive certain federal statutory or regulatory requirements that prevent them from implementing effective education reform. Under the Ed-Flex law, schools must meet high standards in order for a state to remain eligible for waivers. This law gives them flexibility, but demands results.

After parents, the most important factor in a child's academic success is the quality of the teacher in the classroom. The Teacher Empowerment Act, which passed the House in July, would give teachers, school districts, and states more flexibility in using federal funds for teacher training and development. This bill would strengthen public schools by ensuring that teachers have the training and tools they need to give our students a quality education.

I have cosponsored the Dollars to the Classroom Act, which would consolidate 31 federal education programs and create a single flexible block-grant program for states and communities. The bill would require that 95% of the funds be spent on children in the classroom, guaranteeing that we spend more money on educating students and less on bureaucrats in Washington. It also lets school boards, school administrators, teachers, and parents decide the best way to spend our education tax dollars in their schools.

In addition to supporting these measures, I have been a leader in the fight to send more federal dollars to New Hampshire's schools by increasing federal funding for special education. In 1975, when Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandating special education in public schools, the federal government promised to fund 40% of the costs of the program. However, the federal government currently pays only about 12% of the cost of educating children with special needs.

Over the last three fiscal years, I have helped to secure a dramatic $2 billion increase in funding for IDEA. This year, the federal government will provide the State of New Hampshire with $19 million in funding for IDEA. If the federal government were to fully fund its obligation under IDEA, however, the state would receive a total of $64 million annually. That is an additional $45 million New Hampshire schools districts could use for programs to enhance public education.

More federal mandates and the failed "Washington knows best" model of the past will not improve education and prepare students for the 21st century. The federal government should play only a limited role in education. Education policy decisions should be made at the local level by the people who know what is best for our kids, rather than faceless Washington bureaucrats who sit thousands of miles away.