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This is traditionally an annual hearing of the Committee with school nutrition managers who travel to Washington, DC. Their representatives testify to the Committee regarding the practical benefits of the nutrition policies under the legislative review of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. Testimony was presented by Senators Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Chairman, Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; Tom Harkin (D-IA), Ranking Member, Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; Patrick Leahy (D-VT); and Elizabeth Dole (R-NC). Testimony was also presented by panel members Annette Bomar Hopgood, Director, School and Community Nutrition Program, Georgia Department of Education, Atlanta, Georgia; Karen Johnson, School Nutrition Association President, Director of Child Nutrition Programs, Yuma, Arizona; Ruth Jonen, Nutrition Association President-Elect, Director of Food Service, Hoffman Estates, Palatine, Illinois; and Dora Rivas, Chair, School Nutrition Association Public Policy and Legislative Committee, Director, Food and Child Nutrition Services, Dallas Independent School District, Dallas, Texas. An appendix provides prepared statements from: Honorable Elizabeth Dole; Annette Bomar Hopgood; and Karen Johnson.

The focus of this hearing was on funding for abstinence education. Following an opening statement by Subcommittee Chairman Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, witness testimonies were heard from: Dr. Wade F. Horn, Ph.D., Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C.; Rev. Kenneth Page, Pastor, Great Island Presbyterian Church, Lock Haven, Pennsylvania; Dominique Urrutia, Program Coordinator, Abstinence is BEST Program, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Joe Fay, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Coalition to Prevent Teen Pregnancy; Kelly Lesh, Abstinence Education Special Initiative Coordinator, Heartbeat Community Service, Millerstown, Pennsylvania; Ronald Evans, Director, Bridge Youth Services, Pennsylvania; Tyler Barth, Performer, Abstinence Group Choice Initiative, Central Mountain High School, Mill Hall, Pennsylvania; Miranda Shipley, Volunteer, Peer Education, Reel Commitment Program, Fairfield, Pennsylvania; Nelly Torres, Peer Educator, Impact Group, Millersville University, Millersville, Pennsylvania; Sierra Leiphart, Volunteer, Human Life Services, York County, Pennsylvania; Jennifer Bruno, Board Member, Youth as Resources Program, Lehigh Valley High School, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; and Jesse Walton, Staff Member, Boys to Men Program, Mercy Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

This transcript contains the testimony of witnesses who testified or submitted written materials for hearings of the U.S. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources on the following topics: (1) labor market shortages in the information technology jobs from a national perspective and from the perspective of the Washington, DC area; (2) the education crisis that exists in the District of Columbia public schools and the problems of infrastructure as well as educational problems revealed by test scores; and (3) innovative programs and solutions and ways to finance these plans in the Washington, DC region. Witnesses, who included corporation executives, school officials, public agency spokespersons, Senators, and staff of nonprofit programs, stressed the need to improve education in the United States, and especially in Washington, DC, so that students are prepared for the thousands of technology-related jobs that are now unfilled or are being exported overseas. They examined the problems of the Washington, DC schools and suggested improvements. Witnesses also discussed programs that are working and need to be replicated in other schools. (KC)

The Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources met to hear two panels of witnesses discuss improving educational opportunities for low-income children, including provisions of Senate 847, to provide scholarship assistance for District of Columbia elementary and secondary school students. Opening remarks by Senators Coats, Lieberman, Reed, and Hutchinson set the stage for the discussion of educational improvement for low-income children and a discussion of school choice for urban students. The first panel of four witnesses included Howard Fuller (Institute for the Transformation of Learning, Marquette University), Pam Ballard (mother of urban students), Alieze Stallworth (teacher in the District of Columbia schools and parent), and Barbara S. Lewis (representative of a group supporting school choice and urban parent). With the exception of Ms. Stallworth, these panelists supported various forms of choice for urban schools. Ms. Stallworth argued that the issue was one of excellence in education for all students. The second panel included Glenn Lewis (State representative from Texas), Alex Molnar (professor of education), Paul Perseon (college professor), Zakiya Courtney (Parents for School Choice), and Dolores Fridge (Minnesota State Commissioner of Human Rights). These panelists discussed school choice programs currently operating. The prepared statements of panelists and supplemental materials are included. (SLD)

A subcommittee report introduces the subject of these joint hearings--the problem of infant mortality in the United States; addresses the need for the legislation; summarizes the proposed legislation; and lists endorsing organizations. The hearings examine both the scope of the problem and S. 1209, legislation to create a national commission to prevent infant mortality. Testimony, which includes remarks by persons experiencing problems and participating in programs, reports: (1) efforts made to address the problem in Texas; (2) the work of the Southern Regional Task Force on Infant Mortality in South Carolina and Virginia; (3) Florida's program goals and interest in the legislation; (4) prenatal care of migrant workers; (5) activities of the Economic Opportunity Family Health Center of Liberty City in Miami (Florida); (6) human and economic costs of infant mortality and differences preventive measures make; (7) dimensions of the problem in Florida and efforts to address them; (8) programs of obstetric, pediatric, and neonatal intensive care units; (9) differences prenatal care can make to mothers' and babies' health; (10) the Children's Home Society's special prevention programs for high risk teens; (11) major trends in infant mortality and related statistics for the United States, reasons trends are occurring, and responsive activities of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; (12) the Reduced-Fee Maternity Program of Providence Hospital's Center for Life, Washington, D.C.; (13) dimensions of and approaches to the problem of infant mortality in Minnesota; (14) infant mortality among blacks in Washington, D.C.; and (15) approaches to preventing low birthweight among infants. Material submitted for the record, in addition to statements and letters, includes a research report on racial and socioeconomic disparities in childhood mortality in Boston, MA, other articles on infant mortality, the text of S. 1209, and an extensive summary of ways to prevent low birthweight. (RH)