[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[January 14, 1992]
[Pages 79-82]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the America 2000 Community Leadership Conference

January 14, 1992
    Lamar, thank you so much and all of you. When I walked in here, Ed 
told me there's an electricity in that room, a real commitment. Well, 
you can feel it just coming here. And I want to thank all of you for 
being here, coming from all across our great country to participate in 
something that is fundamentally important to our future.
    I want to thank Lamar, who has taken this leadership role, taken it 
across the country, taken it out there in the best nonpartisan spirit 
that one could possibly conceive, and making dramatic progress, I might 
add. He's too modest. He set out some of the examples, building his 
examples around those who are here and have taken leadership roles in 
the community. But he himself has been to countless numbers of States 
and gotten this program really rolling. And I think the country is 
grateful to him for that leadership.
    And he's put together a first-class team over at the Department of 
Education, I might add. David Kearns, giving up a fantastically large 
corporate assignment, as Pete Silas and all of you know, to take on this 
key role simply because he is committed, as is Lamar, to helping the 
children of this country. And so we're fortunate to have this program in 
good hands.
    I want to thank Ed Donley. I want to

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thank Dick Lesher, the able head of this organization, day-to-day head 
of it; Bill Lurton and all in this organization here in Washington who 
are providing the leadership, the catalytic leadership, to mobilize 
these communities.
    And as you know, Pete Silas, a very busy man, is sacrificing and 
giving an awful lot of time to the Chamber nationally, not just on this 
issue but on a wide array of issues. He and I just returned from what we 
both agree was a productive trip to Asia with one terrible downside: 
Neither of us can sleep. [Laughter]
    I talked to him about it, and we've determined that it'll take a 
couple of more days, but I am very grateful to Pete for going all that 
way into these various capitals to take the American message across the 
world. It reminded us, that trip, that we're entering an unparalleled 
new century of the high-tech global, and I emphasize that word, 
marketplace.
    It's going to be a tough, extraordinarily competitive world. And the 
key to success is going to be education. It's simple: Nations that take 
the responsibility to invest in the minds of their citizens, all their 
citizens, are going to move ahead. And nations that don't, even great 
nations, are going to be left behind.
    And America 2000 will help us succeed in a new age of competition. 
It's going to liberate the best minds and brightest thinkers of this 
land and will teach us that learning is a lifelong endeavor. And we're 
in the midst of a revolution, a revolution to free us from the past and 
open every sort of thrilling new gate of opportunity in the future.
    But I think everyone here knows at the community level that it is 
going to be a tough battle. Everyone knows that at present our schools 
will not pass the test of the 21st century. And who knows it best? Who 
know that best? Parents. Parents know it. Business community leaders 
know it. And our kids, I'm afraid our own kids know it.
    But we also know how to meet this challenge, and that is by 
achieving these six national education goals that Lamar referred to. 
These are those goals:
    By the end of this decade, our children will start school ready to 
learn. On the Federal side that means Head Start, but it means a lot 
more than that.
    Our children will achieve at least a 90-percent high school 
graduation rate. It's an achievable goal.
    Our children will demonstrate competence in five core subjects 
measured against world-class standards.
    Our children will be first in the world in science and math.
    Our adults will be literate and able to compete, therefore, in the 
work force.
    And then the sixth, our schools will be disciplined, safe, and drug-
free.
    Those are the six education goals. They were set, as Lamar said, not 
in a partisan way but in a convening of the Governors at Charlottesville 
was the first step and then working together with partisanship aside to 
come up with these education goals which have been universally endorsed.
    And I'm so pleased that you and the Chamber are committed to this 
crusade and that more than 600 individual chambers have pledged to make 
their communities America 2000 communities. The tie between this 
organization and the America 2000 program is a natural. America 2000 
arises out of the understanding that educational excellence is 
everyone's business. Everyone must take part in creating a climate in 
which the schools and the communities of the future can flourish.
    Our national goals, as I mentioned, were born out of a bipartisan 
conference of all our Governors, Democrats and Republicans, working not 
for parties but for the Nation. And let me say I'm sorry to have missed 
the Governor of Georgia, who was up here in just that spirit--Dick 
filling me in on his contribution to this organizational gathering. Now, 
with America 2000, every person of every party in this Nation can take 
part in what is a populist revolution.
    America 2000, believe me, it is spreading like a prairie fire. Since 
April, 30 States and 1,000 communities have joined up, embracing our 
challenge to adopt and achieve these national goals, these national 
education goals.
    But not everyone's ready for the future. As the train pulls out of 
the station, many Members of Congress have not yet climbed

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on board. The House has taken some important steps towards the American 
achievement tests. Its bill, I think you'd agree, shows some promise. 
But while Americans across this Nation are working to spark a revolution 
for the future, the Senate regrettably remains riveted on the past. Its 
bill, S. 2, is sponsored by Senator Kennedy, and it falls far short, 
tragically short, of any of our goals. And when the American people want 
transformation, we are being offered business-as-usual up there.
    We want a half-billion dollars to create break-the-mold, new 
American schools. We want school choice to provide middle- and low-
income families the same control over their children's education that 
wealthier people have, school choice. We want to give communities and 
teachers flexibility in spending $9 billion in Federal education money. 
And we want to give the Secretary of Education more discretion in 
sweeping away burdensome regulations. We want these exciting and 
essential innovations for the good of our country, and to all of this, 
regrettably, S. 2, the Kennedy bill, says no.
    The train's gathering steam, and that bill is literally standing in 
the way. And we have to tell Congress of our priorities. We want school 
choice for parents. We want to return power to the local schools, not 
mandate everything from Washington but return that power to the local 
schools. We want American achievement tests. And they'll be fair; they 
can be voluntary. But we want those American achievement tests. We want 
new, and by new I'm talking revolutionarily new, American schools. We 
want America 2000 communities. And we want our kids to excel.
    Americans do not want to live in the past. Things move too quickly, 
and we have to prepare ourselves for the future. Our schools must lead 
the way, not follow. We need schools for the 21st century, not museums 
to the failed experiments of the past. And you have to get this message 
to the people in your communities. You are the leaders. You can do it. 
You are in the process of doing just that.
    America 2000 is a national partnership that requires the involvement 
of students, teachers, parents, principals, and certainly business and 
community leaders because this battle for educational excellence will be 
won home by home, school by school, community by community all across 
our Nation. You can be a catalyst for change right in your own hometown.
    When you return home from this landmark conference, first make sure 
your schools have adopted those six national goals. Make sure they raise 
standards for educational performance and hold schools and teachers 
accountable. That is the key word: accountability.
    And second, encourage your employees to take an active role in their 
children's education, help them with their homework, read to them every 
day. Parents must pass on to their own kids the drive for educational 
excellence.
    Third, reinforce the message to students that hard work today pays 
off for the future. Not only does this mean a good job for them, it 
means a good, strong future for our country.
    And when you get home, you, your neighbors, and your friends really 
must send Congress a message: Start building tomorrow's schools today. 
Give parents the choice they want and children the education they 
deserve. And remind them that anyone who says they understand America 
must understand that we want the best schools for our children.
    America 2000 restores the natural relationship between the family 
and the school. And as I look at the educational problems facing our 
country, that is a tremendously important relationship. It's been 
weakened. We've got to strengthen it. It closes the gap between the 
living room and the classroom. It invites everyone to help break the 
mold, to build schools for the future, and to lay the foundations for a 
new American century.
    I can assure you, and Lamar has followed up beautifully on this, 
that every Department in our Government, Defense included, are on board 
in terms of this America 2000 program. I'm delighted that Pat Saiki, the 
head of the SBA, is here. She and her organization are enormously 
important in furthering the objectives of America 2000.
    So, it's not just the Congress I'm appealing to. It is the 
administration that is now

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on board. It is this Chamber that is in a leadership role for the 
future. The entire Nation, if you look at it broadly, has really 
embraced America 2000. And now, we just need to get the message to the 
people up there on the Congress who work at the Hill and who have a lot 
to say about the funding that is necessary to see this program 
successfully concluded.
    Not all of it depends, thank heavens, on Federal funding. You're 
where the action is, right at the community level. But we've got to get 
the message to 535 people who work down the street to think anew, to 
work with you in creating these brand-new, revolutionarily new schools. 
Together, I really believe that we're onto something here, that we will 
make our future proud and bright.
    And so thank you all very, very much for your commitment, for your 
leadership role, for laying aside the politics to think of the future of 
the kids in this greatest, freest nation on the face of the Earth.
    Thank you, and may God bless you all.

                    Note: The President spoke at 8:55 a.m. at the U.S. 
                        Chamber of Commerce. In his remarks, he referred 
                        to Edward Donley, chairman, Center for Workforce 
                        Preparation and Quality Education; David T. 
                        Kearns, Deputy Secretary of Education; C.J. 
                        (Pete) Silas, chairman, Richard L. Lesher, 
                        president, and William H. Lurton, vice-chairman, 
                        U.S. Chamber of Commerce; and Gov. Zell Miller 
                        of Georgia.