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WASHINGTON - Education Secretary Arne Duncan came before the House Education and Labor Committee today to exchange views on education policy for the next four years.
Rep. Petri (R-WI) praised the administration's plans to phase out the Federal Family Education Loan program and expand the alternative Direct Loan Program for college and graduate school students. "This program has been a great success," he said of direct loans, "and it will be of great benefit to higher education and to taxpayers and to students to expand it as you've been suggesting, and I am looking forward to working with you to that end."
The Direct Loan Program provides students with loans on equal or better terms than the loans under the older FFEL Program, which subsidizes financial institutions to provide loans. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that totally replacing FFEL loans with direct loans can save $94 billion over 10 years.
Petri has been an advocate for direct loans over the past two decades and played a major role in creating the Direct Loan Program in 1993.
Raising another concern, Petri asked Duncan to reconsider the Education Department's denial of the ability of states to use adaptive testing when complying with the No Child Left Behind law, and advocated a bill, H.R. 655, which he has introduced with Rep. David Wu (D-OR) to reverse the denial.
Adaptive tests are done on computers. As the test proceeds, the questions are automatically made either harder or easier in order to zero in on the student's actual competence level.
The Education Department has ruled that adaptive tests don't meet No Child Left Behind requirements because, in its opinion, each child is not being given the same test. Petri says the bureaucrats miss the point of the test - to find out, as precisely as possible, how well students are doing.
Petri said that, in addition to the tests required by federal law, one-third of the school districts in his congressional district find it worth the extra expense to use adaptive tests. "It's highly useful to teachers and others, and I'd urge you to look at that policy and see if we can't move into the electronic age," he said.
"I'm hoping No Child Left Behind means every child gets assessed, and that assessment follows the child, and they make reasonable improvement from wherever they are rather than an impossible goal of uniform success. We are not uniform human beings," he said.
Petri also urged Duncan to rethink restrictions on the Troops to Teachers program, which helps retiring military personnel to qualify as teachers in schools with the highest need. Petri, an early advocate of Troops to Teachers, contends that the Education Department has restricted the eligibility of schools far beyond what was intended by the drafters of the Troops to Teachers law.
Only 13 of the 420 school districts in Wisconsin qualify for Troops to Teachers. "Congresswoman Matsui (D-CA) and I have introduced legislation (H.R. 1313) that attempts to correct what we feel is an improper ruling by the lawyers in your department to restrict this," Petri said.
"These Troops to Teachers people are disproportionately minority, male, and going into math and science. It's just a wonderful program I think should be built upon rather than being cut back," he said.
Duncan replied that Troops to Teachers, and more broadly alternative certification, are policies the Education Department intends to "push very hard."
"I'm a huge fan of Troops to Teachers," Duncan said. "I think it's a phenomenal pool of talent. As you said, many men from the minority community - great leaders by definition who are just phenomenal role models."
Finally, Petri asked Duncan to review previous cases involving improper activities by student loan providers to see if any of the cases could be re-opened and to make sure that further instances are prevented.
Over the past two years Petri led congressional efforts to fight a settlement in which the previous education secretary, Margaret Spellings, forgave $278 million in illegitimately-obtained taxpayer funds to the student loan company Nelnet, and allowed other lenders to keep potentially illegal subsidy payments.
Petri won passage of legislation last July requiring the Justice Department to review any settlements the Education Secretary may enter into which cost taxpayers more than $1 million. He noted that the Education Department's Inspector General recently issued an audit of the Federal Student Aid Office and found new evidence that the Department has failed to provide adequate oversight over lenders and guarantors in the FFEL Program.
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