TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/052989/05298900.008

Text File | 1992-09-23 | 5.5 KB | 108 lines

                                                                                EDUCATION, Page 76

Go to the Rear of the Class


Secretary Cavazos is criticized for ineffectiveness and lack of
focus


    One of George Bush's first acts as President-elect was to
announce that he would retain Lauro Cavazos as Secretary of
Education. The move was widely applauded: in addition to being
the highest-ranking Hispanic in the new Administration, Cavazos
was an amiable former president of Texas Tech University whose
reputation for consensus building contrasted sharply with the
contentious style of his predecessor, William Bennett. But the
honeymoon is over. Reflecting the view of a growing number of
critics, Andrew Griffin, executive officer of the Georgia
Association of Educators, dismisses Cavazos as "all talk, no
action."

    The Secretary comes across as a man with no clear-cut
agenda who prefers speechmaking to policymaking. "Cavazos hit
the ground strolling," says Democratic Congressman Pat Williams
of Montana, chairman of the House post-secondary education
subcommittee. "He believes the job can get done with Rose Garden
ceremonies." An example came earlier this month when Cavazos
unveiled a report showing that the performance of U.S. students
remained "stagnant." The Secretary said the lack of progress
"scared" him, but all he proposed to do was urge Governors and
school board presidents to push for higher graduation rates. "He
keeps telling us that the problems are disgraceful, but he
doesn't come up with any solutions," says Jeanne Allen,
education policy analyst at the conservative Heritage
Foundation.

    Cavazos' boosters say his determination to forge agreement
rather than dictate policy has been misinterpreted as a sign of
weakness. "Cavazos has brought a willingness to listen and a
less combative tone than we've had in the past," says Wilmer
Cody, Louisiana's superintendent of education. "It's a style
that's needed right now." Specifically, Cavazos acted to change
a much criticized policy on federal student-loan defaults,
projected to reach $1.8 billion this year. Bennett had made the
draconian proposal to bar all schools with default rates of 20%
or higher from participating in the program, but Cavazos
scrapped that plan shortly after taking office. Later this
month, after reviewing public comment about the problem, he is
expected to issue more flexible guidelines targeting only the
worst offenders.

    Cavazos adamantly defends himself against charges that his
brief tenure has been short on results and vows to quiet
skeptics with an upcoming series of hard-hitting speeches. "I'm
more concerned with solutions than criticism," he says. "Has
(Treasury Secretary Nicholas) Brady solved the budget crisis
yet? Has the drug problem disappeared?"

    To be sure, the Federal Government's role in education is
limited, since the states and local school boards wield most of
the policymaking power. But Cavazos seems reluctant to take
charge even in the areas that are clearly his. He has yet to
promulgate all the regulations for the School Improvements Act,
an $8.2 billion bill passed last year that would extend existing
programs and create new ones, including dropout prevention.
Legislation to promote alternative certification programs,
Bush's suggested method for combatting the teacher shortage, has
gone nowhere on Capitol Hill, say detractors, because Cavazos
has failed to rally public support. "People were critical of
Bennett's bully-pulpit role," says Ramon Cortines,
superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District.
"But at least he kept education on the agenda. Cavazos hasn't
done that."

    Too often the Secretary seems politically naive. In
January, after testifying before the Senate Labor and Human
Resources Committee, Cavazos asked if he could stay and hear the
other witnesses. Congressional veterans were stunned. Said a
committee staffer: "It looked as if he had nothing better to do
than sit and listen to people read statements." Cavazos is also
handicapped by his lack of familiarity with elementary- and
secondary-education issues. In April, for example, he
incorrectly told reporters that Minnesota provides
transportation across district lines as part of its "choice"
plan, which will soon allow parents to select schools for their
children anywhere in the state.

    The Secretary is also hampered by Bush's lackluster
leadership. So far, the White House has filled only four of the
top 13 Education Department positions. Nor has Bush shown much
generosity in funding: his $22.3 billion education budget for
1990 does not allow for inflation, effectively eroding future
buying power. Says former U.S. Commissioner of Education Harold
Howe: "That was a signal that Bush was going to look like the
education President but not be one."

    Cavazos' problems have prompted speculation that he may
soon be replaced. That seems improbable. As the Cabinet's sole
Hispanic, Cavazos represents a minority group that Bush is eager
to court politically. The Secretary, moreover, is anything but
shy when it comes to protecting his turf. When John Chubb, an
education expert from the Brookings Institution, made it known
that he was in line for a White House post that would allow him
to serve as a "counterpoint to the Education Department,"
Cavazos persuaded White House chief of staff John Sununu to
quash the appointment. The country would be better served if
Cavazos applied that kind of assertiveness to doing his job, not
just keeping it.