For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 19, 2002
Radio Address by the President to the Nation
Listen to the President's Remarks
The Cabinet Room
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. On Monday,
communities across America will celebrate the life and legacy of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Laura will visit Atlanta to
commemorate the day in Dr. King's home town. I will welcome
Dr. King's family to the White House. This year's observance
is an opportunity to celebrate the contributions of Dr. King, and honor
the principles for which he lived and died.
Americans can proudly say that we have overcome the
institutionalized bigotry that Dr. King fought. Now our
challenge is to make sure that every child has a fair chance to succeed
in life. That is why education is the great civil rights
issue of our time.
So my administration worked with Republicans and Democrats to enact
into law the most far-reaching educational reform in a
generation. We are insisting on high standards for all our
children. We're putting a new emphasis on reading as the
first step toward achievement. We're offering teachers new
training, and states and localities new flexibility. And
we're going to measure and test how everyone is doing in our new
accountability system, so we can get help to children before it is too
late.
We have a special obligation to disadvantaged children to close the
achievement gap in our nation. In my next budget, I will
propose an increase of $1 billion for the federal program that aids
disadvantaged schoolchildren. That's on top of the
18-percent increase in last year's budget.
In fact, federal spending on Title I will increase just about as
much in the first two years of my administration as it did in all the
previous eight years combined. I hope Congress will approve
this request.
At the same time as we fund Title I, we're giving extra help to
children with special needs. The federal program for special
needs children was established by the law known as IDEA, the
Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. My 2003 budget
requests an additional $1 billion for IDEA, as well -- an important
increase. But we want these new dollars to carry to special
education the same spirit of reform and accountability we have brought
to other education programs.
This reform effort began Tuesday, when Education Secretary Rod
Paige convened the first meeting of the new presidential commission on
excellence in special education. This distinguished and
diverse group, chaired by former Iowa Governor Terry Brandstad, has a
clear mission -- to propose reforms that will make special education an
integral part of an education system that expects all children to reach
their full potential.
We must have high expectations for children who are more difficult
to teach or who have fallen behind. Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. would accept no less than an equal concern for every child in
America, and neither will my administration.
Thank you for listening.
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