Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 37

SEPTEMBER 9, 2001 SUNDAY SECTION 1 CHICAGO TRIBUNE 11 NATION GOP tries to keep word ecurity traditionally a season of big spending, the fall appropriations process. The House and Senate must pass 13 bills by the end of the month to fund the everyday operations of the government. Democrats, however, have vociferously warned Bush and the Republicans against dipping into the excess Social Security dollars as was common when the nation ran annual deficits. Repeatedly saying, "I told you so," Democratic leaders blame Bush's tax cut for shrinking the budget surplus and leaving Social Security exposed. "Most of us opposed the Bush budget and the Bush tax cut because we feared we would be in this mess today," said Sen.

Dick Durbin "In Illinois, people are watching closely to see we keep our promise not to touch the Social Security and Medicare trust funds." It is that threat of voter retribution that has terrified Republicans and limited both parties' ability to fund programs this year. "The Social Security trust fund has become the ark of the covenant you can't touch it," said Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers Voter backlash terrifies leaders By Jill Zuckman Washington Bureau WASHINGTON Fearful of the political repercussions that could come with tapping into the Social Security surplus, Republican leaders are mulling a new plan that would cut domestic spending across the board if the federal retirement program were threatened, aides said. Mitch Daniels, the president's budget director, privately told House Speaker Dennis Has-tert (R-Ill.) and his leadership team Friday that the federal government is on track to take as much as $9 billion out of the Social Security surplus this year in order to meet its obligations. The news undercut Republican insistence that the president's budget is solid enough to support a major tax cut and spending initiatives without breaching the fence around Social Security dollars. And it provided Democrats with even more ammunition than they had previously received from the Congressional Budget Offic lysts, however, have said that seniors' benefits would not be damaged if a portion of the surplus were used for other purposes.

In fact, that practice used to be standard. President Clinton persuaded Congress not to touch Social Security surplus funds except to pay down the national debt. For Clinton, it was a tactic to prevent Republicans from cutting taxes. For Republicans, it was an opportunity to prevent Clinton from creating new government entitlements. Since that time, the House has overwhelmingly passed five "lock box" bills pledging to protect Social Security and Medicare.

None of those bills has passed the Senate. Democratic officials say they expect to run campaign ads pointing to those House votes and castigating Republicans for going back on their word. They also have collected speeches and statements from Bush, Hastert and Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) promising to leave Social Security dollars alone. With the economy faltering and unemployment on the rise, "retirement security is an even bigger issue than it was a year ago," said Jim Jordan, execu Congressional Republicans are in a swivet because Democrats have threatened to blame them for spending Social Security dollars if that were to occur. Polls on both sides of the aisle show voters are emphatically opposed to seeing that money siphoned off for other purposes.

When Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) suggested last week that it makes sense to tap the Social Security surplus to pay for public policy priorities, Democrats leaped to attack. GOP under fire "Across the country, from top to bottom, Republicans have been savaging the public's trust," said Mark Nevins, press secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "President Bush, Speaker Hastert and Republican members of Congress have all broken their promises on Social Security.

The fact is, they're going to have a huge price to pay for their dishonesty in November 2002." To be sure, none of the Social Security money has been siphoned yet, but Nevins and the CBO said it is only a matter of time. Economists and budget ana e's report at the end of August. President Bush continued to assure the public that he would not sanction spending that takes money away from Social Security, and he tried to cast some blame. "There are some, it seems like, who are beginning to say maybe we ought to raise taxes," Bush said Friday. "But I can assure you we are not going to let anybody pick the pockets of the American taxpayer." A political bind In the 2000 election, politicians offered voters a bonanza of pledges, from boosting farm aid, defense and education spending to giving seniors a prescription drug benefit under Medicare.

With the Congressional Budget Office estimating a sharp drop in the budget surplus, politicians have found themselves hamstrung. They could raid the Social Security surplus to pay for those commitments, but that would break a previous promise to use that money only to pay down the national debt. Or they could scrap commitments to create programs and increase spending. Pressure for a decision comes just as Congress begins what is Reno won't cruise to Florida office i I kKk uy; i J' A v. i -i urn i lafrrti i nrmmnttotmmmnmmrn-MMirm -ft n.

i- r' I'l'r' irm 1 tive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. "People are actually thinking they might need Social Security." Republicans, however, insist that they are in agreement with the Democrats. Social Security will remain sacrosanct unless Congress spends too much money. 'Promise should be kepf White House press secretary Ari Fleischer explained why the administration says it has no intention of using those dollars to cover other expenses. "Because that money was paid into Social Security by workers, and it was promised by the government to be held for Social Security, and the president thinks that promise should be kept," Fleischer said.

"And his budgets keep the promise. He's dedicated to keeping the promise. And the promise will be kept unless Congress overspends." John Feehery, a spokesman for Hastert, said Republicans are content to watch as Democrats advocate fiscal conservatismjust like the GOP. "For those of us who are proponents of smaller government, this is a victory," Feehery said. Democratic member of the Florida House from 1974 to 1986 and former mayor of Jacksonville.

"On paper she's right for the job," he said. "But it's just going to be difficult to win the independent voters and Republican voters that she needs." Many Democrats support Pete Peterson, a former congressman from Florida's panhandle who also served as the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam in the Clinton administration. Peterson ranks second in recent polls behind Reno. But the same polls say Reno would lose to Bush if the general election were held today.

The presence of Reno, who served 15 years as state attorney in the county that includes Miami, also squelch other Reno Democrats in the race. Two days after Reno's announcement, U.S. Rep. Jim Davis of Tampa became the first to drop out. Reno supporters hope the field narrows even more before next September's primary.

Three candidates, including Reno, live in southeast Florida, home to nearly a third of the state's 3.9 million registered Democrats. Republicans have 3.5 million registered voters. Trolling for voters While Democrats have a slight edge in voter registration, both parties are scouring the state to register any U.S. citizen who is at least 18. Meanwhile, Republicans are delighted by a large pool of candidates on the Democratic side.

"My hope is the Democrats will do enough damage to each other that by the time they get to us, we will be able to run a positive campaign," said Al Cardenas, chairman of the Florida Republican Party. Bush is trying to become the first Republican governor of Florida to win re-election. He is not expected to have a GOP opponent. So as Democrats spend the next year campaigning, his aides acknowledge they must work to keep him from being overshadowed. A recent public opinion survey showed that Bush's approval rating has dropped to 49 percent, the lowest since he was elected in 1998.

Having a brother in the White House is somewhat of a mixed blessing. The connection assures that fundraising won't be a problem. But side-by-side appearances with the president also trigger reminders of last year's troubled election. When the president travels to Florida on Monday and Tuesday, the governor will join his brother only for a portion of the trip. For the next several months, Jeb Bush hopes to tout the record of his first term and fix the relationship with minority voters, one of the thorniest issues of his administration.

He rarely mentions his opposition but told reporters last week: "Right now, the platform of most Democratic candidates seems to be anti-Jeb," New York Times photo by Ruby Washington Students at Bard High School Early College participate in a writing workshop in Brooklyn. Using an innovative approach, the school gives 11th and 12th graders an opportunity to earn associate degrees instead of high school diplomas. N.Y. high school scraps diplomas Crowded primary among challenges By Jeff Zeleny Tribune national correspondent TALLAHASSEE, Fla. The first time Janet Reno ran for office, her eyes were fixed on state House District 113 in Miami.

She sailed through a three-way Democratic primary, but something happened on the way to Tallahassee: New curtains were hung in her office before Election Day. Those blue curtains soon were taken down, after a little-known Republican attorney beat her. Reno was the only Democrat to suffer defeat on the 1972 Dade County ballot. It would be the last election she would lose. Three decades later, as the 63- year-old Reno sets her sights on another Tallahassee office, she has more worries than unseating Gov.

Jeb Bush. The former U.S. attorney general not only must win a crowded primary next fall, but she also must win over fellow Democrats who would have preferred that Reno retire rather than take a leading role in the nation's most-watched governor's race. There is an undeniable appeal in the fact that Florida is again the spot for a showdown between an ally of former President Bill Clinton and a Republican governor named Bush. Both parties, fueled by lingering hard feelings from last year's presidential race and ihe desire to lay the groundwork for the next one, are poised to invest as much money and muscle as it takes to claim the governor's mansion.

"I don't think anyone's making any bets here," said Michael Martinez, a University of Florida political science professor. "It's way too early to tell." Last week, Reno announced her bid for governor from the end of her home's unpaved driveway off a bustling street that once sat on the desolate edge of the Everglades. This screened-in refuge, built of cypress beams by her mother, was the haven Reno longed for after leaving Washington in January. Wants Jeb Bush beaten But Reno, who always had talked about her desire to drive across America in a red pickup truck, has now confined herself to crisscrossing Florida. Why? "I want to see Jeb Bush beaten," she explained to voters from coast to coast, where she already has spent hours sharing her platform of better education and stronger environmental protection with voters in retirement centers or park gazebos.

Several prominent Demo crats, though, say they would have preferred a Reno-free race. Though her name recognition is high, so is the level of animosity for the woman who oversaw the Waco standoff and its fiery conclusion and ordered the raid that ultimately sent Elian Gonzalez back to his home in Cuba. "She has a difficult row to hoe," said Tommy Hfyouri, a leased in January, the National Commission on the High School Senior Year, made up of 30 educators, politicians and administrators, cited high enrollment in college remedial classes as evidence of poor preparation. Stanford University professor Michael Kirst, who also studied and faulted existing senior-year programs, said he is encouraged by the New York ef forts. More schools planned A similar goal underlies at least 25 alternative schools nationwide, including three in Chicago, that place high school students on community college campuses and give them limited access to college courses Known as middle colleges, the first opened in 1974 at LaGuar-dia Community College in Queens, N.Y, which also is the planned site for New York's second early college program.

That school is slated to pro vide two years of free college classes and an associate degree after two condensed years of high school. In contrast to Bard's high scoring students, this program will target "underachievers, because we have shown that some students who don't excel in the regular public system do well when you accelerate the learn ing and push them," said Janet Lieberman, a LaGuardia ad ministrator who is designing the second program. Though hardly an under-achiever, a little push is what Liz Dempsey, 16, was seeking when she chose to leave an Upper East Side private school in favor of the Bard program. Besides a bit of Proust, and perhaps a little Mandarin Chinese, she also is looking for an atmosphere more like college. "Here I can focus on learning, not on busy work," she said.

Students jump into college work By Evan Osnos Tribune national correspondent NEW YORK A new public high school here has a pioneering cure for "senioritis," the academic "pox Americana" afflicting millions of restless and departing students: eliminate senior year altogether. In fact, Bard High School Early College is scrapping 11th grade as well, jumping students from 10th grade straight to college classes on the same campus and awarding them associate degrees when others their age are receiving high school diplomas. New York school officials and education reformers are hailing the concept as a breakthrough in the growing effort to rethink the traditional American senior year. A study released this year and commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education called senior year for most students "a lost opportunity" that leaves them uninspired and ill-equipped for college.

Bard High School is run by the New York Board of Education and Bard College, which launched the idea at Simon's Rock College, a similar private program it runs in Massachusetts. But unlike the Massachusetts program, the new public school is free, and located not on a leafy New England campus, but on the borrowed upper floor of a junior high school in Brooklyn. New York City is considering a second, similar project next fall. Though he has no plans to expand it beyond the two schools, New York City Schools Chancellor Harold O. Levy said the new approach makes a traditional System look obsolete ordinarily will not receive high school diplomas.

Because colleges in some states require a diploma or the equivalent, Bard students may apply to New York state after their third year for an equivalency diploma, officials said. For parents, it is two years without paying college tuition. For motivated students, it is a chance to hone interests and take more advanced course-work. With paint barely dry on the walls, students arrived on opening day to face icebreaker exercises on Plato's philosophy and the poetry of Langston Hughes. The school is not for everyone.

Shibo Xu, 14, was one of only two students who showed up in his Staten Island neighborhood for a midsummer meeting to hear about the new school. But Xu was sold, giving up a local school for the prospect of a three-hour round-trip daily commute from Staten Island to Brooklyn. "I see it as a chance for small classes and one-on-one interaction with the teacher," said Xu, a lanky boy with spiked hair and a baggy T-shirt. "You do not get that in a normal public school." To John Shean, a former visiting professor at the University of Michigan, now teaching 9th graders at the new school, it is "about treating students like adults rather than like children." That is the mantra of Leon Botstein, the president of Bard, who himself enrolled in the University of Chicago at age 16 and engineered the new school to be more demanding than traditional schools. "We are leaving most students during their most crucial years of learning with an extremely low level of education and inspiration," he said.

"This is designed to fix that." In a tfjreliminary report re "This is what high school is going to be," Levy said after addressing students at the school's first day Wednesday "This is a marvelous experiment." The same concerns about the value of senior year have spawned alternative high schools in many cities, complete with internships and specialized courses. Some community colleges offer programs allowing high school students to earn college credit. But these New York schools are believed to be the only efforts in the public system to eliminate 11th and 12th grades and award college degrees. The nearest thing to a precedent was a half-century ago, when University of Chicago President Robert Hutchins first allowed students to enroll after their sophomore year in high school. That effort, which placed high schoolers in classes with older students, largely faded by the 1960s.

Enrollment likely to double By contrast, the 260 students at Bard High School study together in a single building in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Enrollment is expected to double next year. Bard and the board of education split costs. Teachers are paid by the board, which also covered nearly all of the $1.3 million in start-up costs, officials said. Smaller classes and new materials have added $1,000 to $1,500 in extra costs per student per year compared with a regular high school; Bard officials said the additional money has been raised from donors.

Students can begin Bard High School in 9th grade and receive an accelerated two years of high school before beginning college courses. Students then transfer to mainstream colleges for bachelor's degrees. Students at Bard High School.