A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

FOR RELEASE: October 25, 2000	Contact:         Roberta Heine (202) 401-3026

EDUCATION SECRETARY RICHARD W. RILEY TESTIFIES BEFORE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON OCTOBER 25, 2000

Education Secretary Richard W. Riley today testified before the House Education and the Workforce Committee on funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Department of Education management, and other issues.

Secretary Riley said he was proud of America's education record over the past seven years, noting that since 1993, "We've begun turning the corner: reading, math and science scores are up; more board-certified teachers are in classrooms; more students have access to technology in their schools; students are better prepared to go to college and more of them than ever before are going on to college. What is more, schools across the country are being held to higher standards and are accountable for results."

Riley said one of the primary things he'd learned during his tenure as Education Secretary was that citizens are deeply committed to the success of public education and is convinced that "the American people want education to be a state response, a local function but a national priority, and they are certainly not in favor of abolishing the U.S. Department of Education."

One of the issues Committee members asked Riley about was the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Funding for the Part B grants to states has more than doubled over the past five years. "As we look to the future, I think there is growing agreement that we need to get on a deliberate path to reaching the 40 percent goal. As we work to increase funding for IDEA, we also need to recognize that three-quarters of all children with disabilities now spend roughly half of their time in regular classrooms," Riley said. "That is why President Clinton and I believe that many of our initiatives, from reducing class-size to increasing technology, to after-school programs and modernizing our schools make a powerful difference to children with learning disabilities while benefiting other children as well."

When Riley took over the Department of Education seven years ago, he was presented with a General Accounting Office (GAO) report, Long Standing Management Problems Hamper Reform, detailing the Department's long history of serious mismanagement and consistent lack of leadership prior to 1993. According to the GAO, "Past Education Secretaries have not built an organization that could implement major policy initiatives. Moreover, the Department's history is replete with long-standing management problems."

Riley said his Administration has been working very hard ever since to rebuild the management structure of the Department. He said his Administration has brought new accountability and fiscal responsibility to the Department's programs, which has led to $18 billion in savings to American taxpayers and $9 billion in savings to students through new and better-managed student loan programs and a decline in student loan defaults. The student loan default rate was reduced by more than two-thirds from 22.4 percent to just 6.9 percent this year.

"I believe that this is an outstanding demonstration of our diligence in protecting taxpayer funds from abuse and waste," Riley added. "We also regularly ensure - as a 1999 GAO report noted - that over 99 percent of the appropriations for 10 major elementary and secondary education programs go directly to states. Overall, the Department has done more with less. Even though we have significantly increased our workload. we actually have 200 fewer fulltime employees compared to 1993. We have around 3,000 fewer employees compared to 1980 when the Department came into existence."

The Secretary said that the Department is continually working to improve its financial management and it began a complex and difficult upgrade of its financial and management systems several years ago. The Department received a "clean" audit in 1997, but Riley said that a newly purchased general ledger system failed to do the job it needed to do the next year, which "explains, in large part, why we did not achieve our goal of 'clean' audits in 1998 and 1999."

He added that the Department is making progress and has closed out 118 of the 139 recommendations from the financial audits since 1995. He said he expects all of the recommendations to be closed out next year, including a new Oracle Federal Financials integrated financial management system directly being put in place at the Department.

Riley added that protecting taxpayer assets is a priority under this administration; "We take very seriously any charges of wrongdoing involving employees and contractors of the Department of Education. We are continually strengthening Department safeguards and systems against fraud. Over the years, we have implemented significant improvements in our financial management systems," he said.

"I am deeply concerned about two specific cases of fraud that are referenced by the Committee. We do not and will not tolerate fraud of any kind and we are working closely with the Inspector General and the Justice Department to prosecute the individuals involved to the fullest extent of the law," Riley said.

Regarding the case of the stolen computer equipment and excessive overtime charges, the Secretary said the stolen property has been recovered and the Department expects to recover every penny, in addition to damages, by the time the investigation and prosecution are completed.

"My understanding of the situation is that our faith in a long serving and trusted contract administrator was misplaced. This individual colluded with an employee of a respected private company that was providing services and selling equipment to the Department. We have put additional controls in place so this can not happen again," Riley said.

In the case of the embezzled Impact Aid funds - by way of forged documents - Riley said the property and funds that were stolen have been seized. "Here again, we take this case of embezzlement very seriously," he added. "In any case where fraud has occurred, an agency should respond forcefully, prosecute to the fullest extent possible, recover the stolen property and put additional safeguards in place. We have taken just such a course of action in both of these situations."

An additional issue raised by the committee concerned the Secretary's travel. Riley said he has traveled to some 400 schools over the past seven years, and when he travels on the taxpayers' dollar, "every event is for an educational purpose. My office works closely with our career ethics staff to ensure that this is the case in every situation."

Riley said only a small fraction of all of these visits includes accepting invitations from members of Congress who want him to visit schools in their districts and see and hear what their constituents have to say about their schools.

"I accept invitations from Republican members on the same basis as invitations from Democratic members. Doing that is not only the right thing to do; it is clearly in the Department's best interest in working with Congress. Most of these requests come from members of Congress who support our education agenda" Riley said. "Similarly, when the Department schedules an educational event, our consistent practice is to notify members who represent the district as well as other public officials without regard to party affiliation or campaign status. As I have often said - our children are not educated as Democrats, Republicans or Independents but as Americans, and this philosophy extends to the communities and schools I visit."