The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 16, 1981, Image 1
' GAME COCK"
LXX1V, No. 54 University of South Carolina Monday, November 16,1981
Fitiirn'
HB%8 V WO I
Favors
1 ^ By MARK PLATTK I
tditor |
Back in the days when <
Ronald Reagan was running !
for president, one of his
enthusiastic campaign
promises was to "get the
federal government off the
backs of the people."
This campaign rhetoric
was used with frequent
reference to federal social
4P spending. Now having been
in office for over a year.
Reagan hassucceedcdtortne
most part in carrying out his
promise.
Assistant Secretary for
k Educational Research and
Improvement Donald Senese
was at USC recently
speaking at the Third Annual
Conference on Educational
? ? Iccnoc anH Rpcpar^h Rpfnrp
I _
* w his speech, Senese, a USC
I alumnus, told the Gamecock
j the Reagan administration
^ is keeping firm on block
*, grant proposals to facilitate
j" state and local control over
spending.
j "The philosophy of the
Reagan administration is to
(a let the slate and local officials
who best know
education coordinate the
grants." Senese said. "Thr
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1 Assistant seiTKuwy iwr
Improvement Donald Se
5
lion Ofl
Block (
block grants covers 28 or so
programs One state could
decide whether it wants
more money in the metric
and conversion program or
anntliPr r'ftiilH f -a v n r
something else like the Basic
Skills program."
Senese pointed out that the
block grant proposals may
be too complex for some
states to comprehend
because past history was
federal dictation of where
money was to be spent.
Senese, one of nine assistant
secretaries under Secretary
of Education Terrell Bell,
insists that once states get
used to the idea of implementing
their own
riecision-makine and con
trol, the system will work
effectively.
The block grant proposals
will be funnelled to individual
states where 80
percent of the grant allotted
would be channeled to local
education agencies on the
basis of their enrollment.
According to Senese, there is
a pupil-rating formula which
divides the money
mathematically.
Then the states decide on
\
f
Educational Research and
lieSe* SU?ftKXobyK>HNrA*Nfll
Ficiol
Grants
tho flow of thp mnnov I InHor
the Carter administration,
federal funds were given
under an umbrella-process,
where all states had to update
and improve programs
in the nation as a whole.
Under the Reagan plan,
school districts may put
money in school libraries as
opposed to guidance and
r*r?nr?t:f?l Jinir nr Pmprflpnc v
School Aid.
"In the past, there was a
thrust towards the centralization
of education,"
Senese said. "There was the
creation of the cabinet level
of education. Centralization
created difficulties in school
budgets under great fiscal
stress. There was an inordinate
amount of time and
r f A 1 i A. r 1 1
enori useu 10 meet ieuurai
regulations."
Seneseused the example of
the federal government
requiring bilingualism in
schools. "There was this
thinking that there was only
one way to teach bilingual
students," the assistant
secretary said. Under the
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ntvv auiiiuuoti uiiuu, viiv.iv iu
no mandate as to what must
be learned or how it should
be taught, Senese said.
Senese said the media has
been critical of the block
grant proposals. "The only
people who are saying
anything against this plan
arp thp neonle in the media."
he said.
He said in the past,
professional groups had the
power to lobby for additional
funding in education but now
tne money is coming irom
one source. "We've had
great support of administrators
at the local
level who always said, 'give
us more power,"' Senese
said. "Now they've got that
power."
"Within the span of
roughly one year, we've
been able to eliminate
thousands of pages of
regulatkms on federal
spending in elementary and
secondary schools," Senese
said.
M?' - BW ^ ^ J
pi:7-;'. :
This scene of Fairfield
mountain setting.
J
Sapphire Valley, N.C. sho
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SUH fholo by CHIf IOWill
ws the beauty of fall in a