May 2, 2000 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD Ð Extensions of Remarks E611 their home, volunteering their time and energy ing to compete with the new multiplex thea- trous and discredited Outcome Based Edu- to many worthwhile projects and community ters. The theater stood vacant until 1984 when cation (OBE). (Sec. 1111(B)(4)(A,B)) activities. The area is enriched by their pres- it was reopened as the Showtime Cantina. OBE (also called performance-based edu- cation) is measured by ``criterion referenced ence and I am extremely proud and honored Four years later the theater was again closed tests'' that assess students against a low to be among their many friends. I sent my sin- and remained vacant until the mid-1990s threshold of achievement (formerly associ- cere best wishes as they accept this pres- when it was acquired by the Ritz Community ated with the letter grade ``D''), rather than tigious award and I look forward to their con- Theater Project, Inc., under the leadership of by ``norm referenced tests'' which measure tinued involvement in the community for years Helen Stairs. The group began renovating the how well students master a body of knowl- to come. theater in 1999, and it was renamed in honor edge in comparison with other students f of Helen Stairs whose determination and dedi- (such as the ACT, SAT, GRE, Iowa Basic, and cated effort has resulted in its restoration. Stanford Achievement tests). HELEN STAIRS THEATER ESEA's purpose is to tie schools to the I congratulate and thank Helen Stairs, her floor of minimum achievement rather than husband Carl and family, and all of those who to the ceiling of educational excellence and HON. JOHN L. MICA joined with her in the effort to restore this his- possibilities. The oft-repeated phrase ``all OF FLORIDA toric treasure. On behalf of the Central Florida children will learn'' really means that all IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES U.S. Congressional Delegation, we salute the children will be taught only the low level of learning that is actually reached by all chil- Tuesday, May 2, 2000 tremendous effort that made this community project a reality. dren. Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take The term ``minimum competencies'' f this opportunity to congratulate the City of doesn't sell well to parents and the tax- Sanford, Florida and its citizens for their suc- paying public, so as linguistic bait-and- FEDERALIZATION OF PUBLIC switch occurs through the bill. ``Standards'' cessful renovation and restoration of the SCHOOLS means minimum levels, ``accountability'' former Ritz Theater, to be renamed the Helen means accountability to the U.S. Depart- Stairs Theater, which will celebrate its grand HON. HENRY J. HYDE ment's of Education and Labor, ``integrated opening on Saturday, May 6, 2000. The the- curriculum'' means integrating of training ater, located in the historic district of Sanford, OF ILLINOIS into the school day, and ``local control'' has celebrated a storied past, and its restora- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES means control only over implementing the tion promises the citizens of Sanford the op- Tuesday, May 2, 2000 nonacademic job-training system but not over standards, content or testing. portunity to transform an icon of another age Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, the April issue of Not only does ESEA force OBE and cri- into a community facility with a bright new fu- the Phyllis Schlafly Report contains a pene- terion referenced testing on every local ture. trating analysis of education issues that now school district in the nation, ESEA cements Originally known as the Milane Theater, the confront Congress. into place the goals of nationalized cur- Helen Stairs Theater was first constructed in I hope my colleagues will give this material riculum, nationalized testing and national teacher certification, which were envisioned 1923 by the Milane Amusement Company as the careful attention it deserves. part of a broad expansion in downtown San- in the 1994 Goals 2000 Act. ESEA also con- ford. The theater design is indicative of a [From the Phyllis Schlafly Report, April tinues the radical changes required by the building style that began appearing in the 2000] 1994 School-to-Work Act to guide schools away from a knowledge-based system and to- United States in the 1850s based on Euro- WHY THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE BEING FEDERALIZED ward training for Jobs selected by local pean models of opera houses. Motion picture Workforce boards.(Sec. 1111. Sat Plans) expansion in the early twentieth century led to Congress is about to pass legislation that School-to-work is the Clintons vision of a boom in the construction of new theaters will federalize every local school district and controlling the economy. Students will be spell the end of local and state control of with over twenty-five thousand theaters lo- pigeon-holed into jobs to serve the best in- America's public school classrooms. Mindful terests of the local economy as decided by cated across the United States by 1916. The of Ronald Reagan's words, ``You can't con- technical sophistication achieved in theater the bureaucrats, not into careers chosen by trol the economy without controlling the the student. construction during this period remains unpar- people,'' Bill and Hillary Clinton have found ``But,'' Congress proclaims, ``the Goals 2000 alleled in the history of American architecture. the way to control the economy by control- and School-to-Work laws are sun setting!'' The Helen Stairs Theater epitomizes the tre- ling America's schoolchildren. Nothing could be further from the truth. mendous boom and amazing achievements The plan started with the passage of Bill While those laws are about to expire, all 50 made during this period and is a visual testi- Clinton's two 1994 laws, the Goals 2000 Act states adopted them and ESEA requires that and the School-to-Work Act, and we were states certify they have adopted ``chal- mony to the rich history and beauty of San- moved further in the same direction with his ford, Florida. lenging content standards and challenging Workforce Investment Act of 1998. Now, with student performance standards * * * with The Milane Amusement Company, led by the Elementary and Secondary Education aligned assessments.'' That is bureaucratic President Frank Miller and Vice President Ed- Act (ESEA), H.R. 2/S.2, the Clintons are jargon for continuing the 1994 Goals 2000/ ward Lane, built the theater as a profit-enter- about to complete the nationalization of the School-to-Work mandates.(Sec. 1111) prise. They had acquired the site from the public school classroom. ESEA has already moved far in the legisla- former Star Theater, and movie house that This massive education bill is the eighth tive process because Congress was hood- had been abandoned for a number of years, successive five-year plan to increase aca- winked by the bills doublespeak language demic achievement by providing ``compen- with the intention of creating a new theater and only now is beginning to understand satory education'' grants to schools with that the Goals 2000 and School-to-Work laws that would be capable of accommodating high concentrations of low-income children. have morphed into ESEA. If ESEA passes in seven hundred patrons. Construction of the It is more ambitious and comprehensive than its current form, every public school district new theater began in November of 1922, and the Clintons' discredited 1994 health care will be forced to continue implementation of was completed in July of 1923 for a mere plan. the revolutionary restructuring required by $80,000. Editors of the Sanford Daily Herald A holdover from Lyndon Johnson's Great the 1994 laws. proclaimed the building as ``a much needed Society legislation, the ESEA has already ESEA is not stand-alone legislation but asset in the City Substantial,'' and claimed spent more than $116 billion. According to works in tandem with other federal, state the Federal Government's five-year $29 mil- that ``this city now has a real theater and one and local programs to mesh curriculum, lion longitudinal study concluded in 1997, the graduation requirements and public funds of which the city can feel proud.'' The theater ESEA failed to achieve its objectives. into state-filed, federally-approved Unified opened on August 2, 1923 to rave reviews. Unable to make the argument that ESEA, Plans under the Workforce Investment Act. Over the next few years there were man- with its current price tag in excess of $10 bil- Under the guise of education ``reform,'' all agement changes, the sale of the theater to lion per year, will raise academic achieve- traditional public school curriculum, testing Frank and Stella Evans in 1933, and in 1936, ment of poor children, the Clintons designed and teaching methods are being replaced the theater was renamed the Ritz Theater. this ``stealth'' legislation with very different with a job training system modeled after The Ritz continued to thrive through the years objectives. Pretending to ``educate to high failed socialized economies in Europe. standards,'' ESEA mandates that all 50 ESEA will fulfill Bill and Hillary Clinton''s featuring mostly picture shows, but also in- states agree to implement a one-size-fits-all dream of national economic planning fed by cluding some live performances, and became education plan. (Sec. 1001(a)(1)) a federalized workforce training system an integral part of the history of Sanford. Dur- How? The bill calls for mandated ``state- domiciled in the public schools. ESEA is the ing the 1960s, the theater attendance de- wide'' minimum competencies for all chil- capstone of their plan to restructure our clined, and in 1978, the Ritz closed after fail- dren.'' That's code language for the disas- American system away from free enterprise, VerDate 27<APR>2000 06:02 May 03, 2000 Jkt 079060 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 0626 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A02MY8.055 pfrm04 PsN: E02PT1 E612 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD Ð Extensions of Remarks May 2, 2000 academic achievement in schools, and the ceptions and hospital events.