MCKEON PUSHING REFORM BID CONGRESSMAN AIDS EFFORT TO CHANGE U.S. ROLE IN EDUCATION.

Byline: Bill Hillburg Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Twenty years ago, he was a local school board member, wrestling with budget limits and a morass of government regulations. Today, Rep. Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, is one of the point men for President George W. Bush's effort to reshape Washington's role in education.

This week McKeon will be one of the floor leaders as Republicans attempt to win House passage of Bush's ``No Child Left Behind Act 0f 2001,'' which stresses more local flexibility in using the federal funds that make up 10 percent of school district budgets.

``Bureaucracy tends to expand exponentially in Washington,'' said McKeon, a member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee and chairman of the Education Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness. ``It's the nature of the beast. We have a lot of well-intentioned people who write and enforce rules without being familiar with local needs. Just in higher education alone, those rules fill an 800-page book.''

The Bush administration is seeking to consolidate dozens of federal education programs, each with its own funding formulas and strict compliance rules, and to allocate funds to public school systems in the form of block grants to states and local districts. Local school boards and officials would be able to use funds where needed for such efforts as teacher training and class size reduction. Local schools' effectiveness in using federal funds would be measured via student achievement tests in grades 3 through 8.

``I believe this program will have real accountability,'' said McKeon, who served on the Hart Union High School District Board from 1978 to 1987 and then as Santa Clarita's first mayor until his election to Congress in 1992. ``Over the past 10 years, we have given out $10 billion in Title I aid and we have no real improvement in student performance to show for it.''

Title I is a federal aid program for disadvantaged students.

The administration's block grant and local spending flexibility plans have received mixed reviews from state and local school officials.

Rick Pratt, assistant executive director of the Sacramento-based California School Boards Association, said his members are concerned about Bush's plan to award the block grants to state departments of education.

``We want that money to come directly to the local level,'' said Pratt, whose group represents the members of 999 local boards. ``We don't want to be taking off federal strings, only to attach state strings.''

McKeon said the Bush plan would make sure that most federal money would make it to the local level by placing strict limits on the amounts state bureaucrats can use to cover their costs of processing and allocating block grants.

Los Angeles Unified School board member David Tokofsky said he welcomed greater control over federal funds.

``Anything that gives us more flexibility is good, as long as it also helps the most needful kids,'' said Tokofsky, who represents the east Valley.

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