TIME: Almanac 1990/1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso/time/052989/05298900.008

Text File | 1990-09-22 | 6KB | 96 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.