For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 21, 2001
Remarks by the President to Teachers and Students
Townsend Elementary School Townsend, Tennessee
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12:03 P.M. EST
THE
PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Fred, thank
you very much. I appreciate your invitation.
MR.
GOINS: We appreciate your coming.
THE
PRESIDENT: And I'm glad I accepted. It's a
beautiful part of the world. I was touched by the number of
your citizenry who came and lined the roads as we came in, to wave and
say hello. And I thank them for that, as well. I
wish I could thank them in person. I hope they realize my
wave was a sincere wave of gratitude.
I want to
thank Gary Pack, the Superintendent of Schools. Let me say a
couple things about what I've learned -- I've learned this as a parent,
I've learned it as a governor, I know it as the President, that a
school is really only as good as its principal, and when you have a
fine principal, you've got a fine school. And I appreciate
your service. And the same with the superintendents.
But with --
the heart and soul of any education system, of course, are the
teachers. And I want to thank those who are
teaching. I'm sorry that my wife is not here with us
today. If she were giving the speech -- and most of you, if
you had heard both of us, would rather hear her -- (laughter) -- she
would say that one of her missions will be to convince Americans who
are coming up to be a teacher. There's nothing more noble
than to teach. And so the teachers of this school and the
teachers throughout all of Tennessee, we thank you from the bottom of
our hearts.
I also want
to thank my friend, the Governor of your state, Don
Sundquist. He is a good man, and he married -- like me -- he
married above himself. (Laughter.) But Laura and
I love Don and Martha. They have been our friends for a long
time, and I appreciate your hospitality.
I want to
thank your Senator, Bill Frist. I'm particularly nice to
Senator Frist these days, since much of what I'm proposing is going to
need to be passed out of the United States Senate. But I've
got a strong ally in Senator Frist, and a good friend.
I want to
thank members of the Tennessee congressional delegation, Congressmen
Duncan and Jenkins and Van Hilleary for being here, as
well. I got to know these folks during the course of the
campaign, and they were stalwarts.
I also want
to thank my friend, the chairman of the Education Committee, from the
state of Ohio, Congressman John Boehner. I am so thankful
the chairman is here. I'm going to be discussing education
policy today, the framework for good policy, and it's going to require
the leadership of John and -- on the House side, and Frist and others
on the Senate side to get this bill through.
So, Mr.
Chairman, thank you very much for not only being here -- I'm surprised
they didn't check you at the border coming in. (Laughter.)
But I'll let you on the plane so we can fly back together and talk
policy.
I'm also
most appreciative of the Mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee for being
here. I've know Mayor Ashe for years and years and
years. And he has done a fabulous job of being a fine public
servant in Knoxville. So, Victor, thank you for coming.
And
finally, a former public servant, a distinguished Tennessee citizen, a
man whose son is -- sees my daughter at the University of Texas,
hopefully in the library -- (laughter) -- and that's Lamar Alexander.
I want to
thank these distinguished officials. I want to thank the
local officials. Senator, thank you, as
well. Thank you for coming.
There's no
more important subject than public education. We must get it
right to make sure no child is left behind. My philosophy is
this. First, all of us in positions of responsibility must set the
highest of high standards for every child. I believe every
child can learn. And that ought to be indelibly etched into
our national conscience, that every single child in America has got the
capacity to learn and we should accept nothing less. And we
must set high expectations for every child. We must raise
the bar.
I also
strongly believe in local control of schools. I believe the
best way to chart the path to excellence for every child in America is
to insist that authority and responsibility be aligned at the local
level. (Applause.)
So I look
forward to working with the members of the House and the Senate to pass
power out of Washington, to provide flexibility for the federal funds
so that the governors, superintendents, principals can design programs
that meet your specific needs. As the old adage, one size
does not fit all in public education -- it is very true. It
is very true. We had the same goal in Tennessee and Texas,
and that is every child learn. But we've got different issues in Texas
than you have in Tennessee, and that's why we need to have
flexibility.
The
cornerstone of reform, as far as I'm concerned, is not only high
standards and maximum flexibility, but strong accountability systems.
I think it's so important to measure. I think it's a
legitimate thing -- I know it's a legitimate request from those of us
in public life to say if you receive taxpayers' money, you measure, and
you show us whether or not the children are learning.
And when I
ask Congress to pass legislation that says, in return for federal help
the state of Tennessee, local jurisdictions must develop accountability
measures on an annual basis, 3 through 8, to determine whether or not
our children are learning. It is essential we do so.
Now, I know
there's some around who will say we can't measure, it's not the proper
role of the government. Well, I believe the proper role of
any government at any level is to insist upon results. There
are some who will say, well, we can't have the test because all they'll
do is teach the test. Well, I went to a writing class here
in this school, and they were teaching the children to write, and
therefore, they were able to pass the test.
You don't
teach the test when it comes to literacy. We went to a Title
1 classroom -- or a classroom with Title 1 students in it, where the
teacher was using some of the most advanced thought about teaching
reading, a balanced approach including phonics. You teach a
child to read and he or her will be able to pass a literacy
test. I don't buy teaching the test as an excuse to have a
system that doesn't hold people accountable for results.
Finally,
there are some who will say you can't test because it is a matter of
race to test. I think it is a matter of race not to
test. I think it's racist not to test, because oftentimes in
our school districts, those who are most easy to shuffle through are
those who live in the inner cities or whose parents may not speak
English as a first language. No, we must measure because we
want to know. We want to know when there's success.
When a
teacher told me in that classroom, she said, we're making great
progress in our new reading program here; it's been in place
for three years, we're making fine progress, we know because
there's accountability. People should welcome
accountability. It's a way to diagnose and to solve
problems. It's a way to say that every single child matters
in America, and not one child ought to be left
behind. (Applause.)
I don't
support, my friends in Congress don't support the design of a national
test. All a national test will do is undermine local control
of schools. But we look forward to working with states and
local jurisdictions to develop accountability systems that meet your
needs, so we achieve what we want. And that is an education
system focused on each individual; an education system that diagnoses
early and solves problems early.
Yesterday I
also outlined some funding priorities of mine. I'm going to
submit a budget next week to the United States Congress -- it's a
budget that sets clear priorities. A priority is going to be
to make sure that our Social Security system and the payroll taxes are
saved for Social Security and the Social Security system is
strong. A priority would be Medicare. A priority
is going to be to make sure our troops are well-paid and well-housed
and well-trained, so that we can keep the peace. A priority
is going to be pay down debt. A priority is going to be tax
relief, so hardworking Americans have got more money in their pocket to
pay down their own debt and to cover the cost of high energy costs.
A priority
is going to be public education, as well. As a matter of fact, in the
budget I submit, the largest increase of any department will be for the
Department of Education. (Applause.) Federal
funding for the Elementary and Secondary School Act will go up by $1.6
billion, an 8 percent increase in funding.
I think
it's so important for us to prioritize public education, at the same
time, we prioritize -- make it a priority of making sure our money is
spent well. A priority has got to be diligence when it comes
to taxpayers' money. And that's why I'm confident the
combination of an increase in spending coupled with education reform
that holds people accountable is the right path for America to take.
And
finally, yesterday I proposed additional spending for a national
reading initiative that will set this goal: every child will
be reading at the appropriate level by the 3rd grade. It's
going to require schools, districts willing to challenge the status
quo, if children are failing. It's going to mean we're going
to have to think differently about Head Start. Head Start
should remain, and will remain, a place where children are treated for
disease and the Health and Human Service component to
it. But I think Head Start ought to be moved to the
Department of Education, to highlight the need to make sure that our
youngsters get a head start on reading and math. (Applause.)
The
billion-dollar a year additional money for the reading initiative will
allow districts to access money for K through 2 diagnostic testing; for
curriculum development; for teacher training, to make sure that the
teacher I saw today, the skills that she has are given to all the
teachers who are charged with teaching reading.
We've got
an aggressive program for public ed. It's a program, though,
that has deep faith in the ability of local folks to make sure the
children are educated. It's a program, the philosophy of
which says that the people that care most about the children in towns
in Tennessee are the citizens of towns in Tennessee, are the parents in
towns in Tennessee, are those concerned folks who every day try to
figure out how to make your community a better place to live.
The great
strength of America lies in the hearts and souls of our
citizens. It lies in the classrooms. It lies in
the after-school activities of Scout troops, run by local
citizens. And our philosophy, the philosophy of the bill
that I'm going to submit to the Congress incorporates that greatness of
America in its core.
It's a
thrill to be here in Townsend. It is a -- you're the
heartbeat of America. And you're the future of America, by
making sure every single child gets educated. God
bless. (Applause.)
END 12:15 P.M. EST
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