March 4, 2004
Senators Warner and Allen
Senators Warner and Allen
PO Box 8208
Alexandria, VA 22306-8208
March 4, 2004
The Honorable John William Warner
United States Senate
225 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-4601
The Honorable George F. Allen
United States Senate
204 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-4604
Dear Senators Warner and Allen:
Please support repeal of the drug provision of the Higher Education Act (HEA), a law that since taking effect in 2000 has delayed or denied aid to over 160,500 students because of drug convictions. Earlier this year the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, a bipartisan commission appointed by President Bush, called for repeal of the HEA drug provision in its recommendations.
You can support repeal of this law by sponsoring a companion bill in the Senate to the RISE Act (Removing Impediments to Students’ Education), a bill in the House of Representatives which last session garnered 70 cosponsors. The RISE Act is scheduled to be reintroduced on March 9th, 2005.
The HEA drug provision is troubling for numerous reasons:
* It is economically discriminatory, only affects the children of low- and middle-income families who rely on student loans, federal work-study programs, Pell Grants, and other forms of aid to help finance their educations. These are the very students and families whom the HEA set out to assist by expanding their educational opportunities.
* It is inappropriate to punish people twice for the same offense.
* Judges already have the discretion to deny federal benefits to those convicted in their courts. Likewise, school administrators have the discretion to discipline and/or expel students who violate university policies. We should let those who are directly in touch with the individual cases make such judgment calls — not have one blanket policy decided in Washington, DC, for everybody.
* Studies have shown that those convicted of crimes are far less likely to be re-arrested after having received two years of postsecondary education and that students who leave school after their first year have a dramatically reduced return rate.
Therefore, it does not seem in anyone’s best interest to take students out of school for offenses with which the criminal justice system has already dealt. I fear that denying such students the opportunity to pull themselves out of the dangerous cycles of poverty and poor lifestyle choices may lead some of them to destructive behavior which we will later pay for in crime and tax dollars, costs which could have been avoided simplying by letting them begin or stay in school.
President Bush said in his State of the Union address that “America is the land of the second chance.” I ask you to embrace that message by working to ensure that Congress corrects the mistake it made in 1998. Please introduce a bill in the Senate that will fully repeal the HEA Drug Provision.
Thank you in advance for your attention on this important issue, and I would certainly appreciate a response with your thoughts.
Sincerely,
James Landrith