ASHCROFT CALLS FOR END TO 'DOUBLE STANDARD' IN SCHOOL DISCIPLINE

U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft said Thursday he wants to abolish a "double standard" approach to school discipline that differentiates between special education students and the rest of the student body.

Ashcroft visited with educators and civic leaders in Cape Girardeau Thursday to tout his legislation for local control over federal funding to schools and an end to federal intrusion into local standards for school discipline and student conduct.

He met with about 30 educators and Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce members at the chamber office.

Under federal law, special education students such as those with behavior disorders can't be suspended or expelled for violent or disruptive behavior in the same fashion as other students. A weaker federal discipline code prevails in such cases, including those in which students bring firearms to school, Ashcroft said.

Ashcroft said his school safety bill would abolish the double standard for discipline and allow local schools the authority to expel any student who brings a weapon to school or uses it to threaten a student or teacher.

Under the current law, a special education student typically would return to the classroom within 45 days after an incident involving a weapon. But Ashcroft said a "non-disabled student" would be suspended for at least a year for the same offense.

Ashcroft said his bill would leave it up to the local school officials to decide such discipline matters.

But he said there is "substantial opposition" to his bill in Congress.

As to school funding, Ashcroft said he and Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond are pushing "direct check" legislation that would let local school districts decide how best to spend federal dollars.

He said the move would bypass federal and state bureaucracies that use up dollars that are needed in the classrooms.