for Students and Teachers Act of 2001. [S 1, Vote 172, 6/6/01] XXXX Voted to Provide Bonuses For High Quality Testing. In 2001, XXXX voted to eliminate the one-time bonuses available to States that complete the development of assessments required by the Better Education for Students and Teachers Act of 2001 prior to the deadline. In lieu thereof, it would provide that the Secretary of Education would give bonuses to States at the end of the 2006-2007 school year that had developed assessments by the deadline that were of "particularly high quality" in terms of assessing the performance of students in grades 3 through 8. The amendment was agreed to, 57-39. [S 1, Vote 171, 6/6/01] XXXX Voted Against Imposing Federal Requirements on State Tests. In 2001, XXXX voted against requiring that: a State's testing standards would have to conform to relevant national standards developed by the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Council of Measurement in Education; States would have to provide evidence to the Department of Education that the tests they used were of adequate technical quality for each purpose required by this bill; and itemized score analyses would have to be provided to districts and schools. The amendment was agreed to, 50-47. [S 1, Vote 99, 5/10/01] XXXX Voted Against Increasing Spending For School Accountability. In 2000, XXXX voted against an amendment that would increase Title I, Part A spending (for schools with disadvantaged students) by $250 million in FY 2001, for a total of $8.6 billion for "accountability" efforts to improve schools. No offsets would be provided to pay for the increased spending. The motion was rejected, 49-50. [Vote 147, 6/27/00] XXXX Opposed Shifting $275 Million From Tax Cuts For Education Savings Accounts To School Accountability Programs. In 2000, XXXX voted against denying the proposed education savings account (ESA) tax breaks and instead authorize new federal spending of $275 million per year on “accountability and school improvement” at public schools that receive Title I federal assistance for disadvantaged students. The vote was on tabling the Bingaman amendment to the Affordable Education Act of 1999. [Vote 19, 3/1/00; Congressional Quarterly Daily Monitor, 3/1/00] XXXX Voted to Kill a Measure Providing $200 Million for Local and State Accountability Programs to Improve Poorly Performing Schools. In 1999, XXXX voted to table an amendment to the Labor-HHS-Education FY ‘00 Appropriations by Sen. Bingaman that would have earmarked $200 million for state and local accountability programs to identify schools that were performing poorly and to provide funding for activities, such as professional development, in order to improve those schools' performance. [Vote 317, 10/7/99] XXXX Voted Against Requiring Education Agencies to Publish Report Cards on School Performance. In 1999, XXXX voted in favor of a motion to table an amendment to the Education Flexibility Partnership Act by Sens. Feinstein and Dorgan that would have combined two separate proposals. The first proposal, by Senator Feinstein, would be to create a new Federal program to give assistance to local or State educational agencies that bar social promotion. The second proposal, by Senator Dorgan, would mandate, as a condition of receiving any assistance under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, that States and individual schools must prepare and widely disseminate annual "school report cards" on school performance. [Vote 46, 3/11/99] XXXX Voted to Kill a Measure Requiring States to Demonstrate a Strong Record of Standards-Based Reform Before Receiving Federal Waivers from Education Mandates. In 1999, XXXX voted to table an amendment he sponsored to the Education Flexibility Partnership Act that would have required States to demonstrate that they had a strong record of making standards-based education reforms in the previous 5 years before they could be granted waiver authority. [Vote 30, 3/3/99] XXXX Voted Against Retaining Funding for National Education Testing. In 1998, XXXX voted for a bill to allow parents, relatives or outside entities, including corporations, to contribute up to a combined total of $2,000 per year of after-tax funds to tax-free savings accounts designated for educational expenses. Current law allows up to $500 for college expenses, but the bill would raise the limit to $2,000, and allow the accounts to be used for public or private elementary and secondary education expenses. The bill also would prohibit federal funding for national education testing, give states the option of receiving federal education funds through block grants directly 79