Late last night (in a 296-to-125 vote) the House of Representatives approved Rep. Bill Goodling’s amendment to the Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations bill preventing the expenditure of any funds on the development of a national test for school children. Crossing party lines Democrats voted against the president. Only three Republicans voted with the President.

     This is a major defeat for President Clinton. And a victory for a very diverse coalition. Here is a listing of some of the groups who are opposed to the president’s national testing program:

• National Center for Home Education
• The Mexican American Legal Defense
• NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund
• The National Council of LaRaza
• Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights
• National Women’s Law Center
• People for the American Way
• American Association of University Women
• The Center for Law and Education
• Project 21
• National Center for Fair and Open Testing
• Association of American Publishers
• Mathematically Correct
• Family Research Council
• Concerned Women for America

     Last week Sen. Coats disappointed the coalition by offering a compromise amendment which then passed the Senate. Coats’ compromise authorizes the creation of national tests, but gives oversight of the program to a so-called “independent” board, the National Assessment Governing Board. The independence of the Board is questionable since its members are confirmed by the Secretary of Education.

     However, in response to the many phone calls received by the Senate, Coats specifically excluded home school and private school students from national testing in his compromise amendment.