    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [September 20, 1997]
    [Pages 1193-1194]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    September 20, 1997

        Good morning. We're living in a time of great hope and optimism and
    prosperity in our Nation. Our economy is booming. We've cut the deficit
    80 percent and passed a plan to balance the budget. Crime and welfare
    rolls are dropping. But perhaps most important for the long-term future
    of America, this has been a banner year for education, too.
        Our historic balanced budget is truly an education budget, with the
    largest new investment in education since 1965, from more children in
    Head Start to our America Reads program that will mobilize a million
    volunteers to make sure all our children can read when they leave the
    third grade, to putting computers in all our classrooms and libraries by
    the year 2000.
        We've also had the largest increased investment in helping people to
    go on to college since the passage of the GI bill 50 years ago. The
    increased Pell grant scholarships and work study positions, the HOPE
    scholarship to help pay for the first 2 years of college, and other tax
    credits and IRA's, all these things will truly open the doors of college
    to all who are willing to work for it for the first time in American
    history.
        But we can't rest. We have more to do in education to fully prepare
    our children to seize the opportunities of the new century. And
    especially, we all know we have to do more to improve the quality of
    public education.
        I have called upon all Americans to leave politics at the
    schoolhouse door and to work together to provide our children with the
    best education in the world. And many have answered that call. Just last
    week, the Senate voted overwhelmingly, 87 to 12, for voluntary national
    tests in fourth grade reading and eighth grade math, bringing us an
    important step closer to setting high national standards of academic
    excellence that will ensure that no child leaves our schools without
    mastering the basics.
        Unfortunately, two events in recent days have jeopardized this
    essential progress in education. First, the same forces that have
    resisted education reform and high standards and accountability for
    years in the House of Representatives have voted against developing the
    national standards we need to challenge students, improve teaching,
    empower parents, and increase accountability in our schools. In effect,
    they've cast their votes against better schools and for a status quo
    that is failing too many of our children.
        Second, the Senate narrowly passed an amendment that would undermine
    some of our most successful efforts in the last 5 years to strengthen
    our schools. National efforts to bring

    [[Page 1194]]

    more charter schools to more communities, to bring computers to every
    classroom, to create safe and drug-free schools across our country, all
    these would virtually be abolished by an amendment which would throw all
    our education funds into a pot and distribute it in an arbitrary way to
    the States.
        Today I'm going to see firsthand just how high these stakes are. I'm
    visiting the San Carlos Charter Learning Center in California, one of
    many charter schools across our country and in the State of California
    that are bringing new life, new energy, and new creativity into public
    education. Charter schools are established by educators with less
    redtape but higher expectations. Students must choose to attend them,
    and they exist only as long as they're doing a good job.
        Our administration has been helping charter schools to get started
    all across our country, and our balanced budget contains funds to
    establish hundreds more of them all around America. This is an
    innovation we cannot afford to lose. Making sure every 8-year-old can
    read, every 12-year-old can log on to the Internet, every 18-year-old
    can go on to college, these are national goals, and we must support
    national efforts to meet them.
        In the 21st century, our children must have a world-class education.
    We must strengthen our schools, raise our standards, insist that our
    students master the basics, and demand excellence at every level. So if
    Congress sends me partisan legislation that denies our children high
    national standards or weakens our national commitment to stronger
    schools, I'll have to give it the failing grade it deserves, and I'll
    veto it.
        Bringing vital change and progress to our schools will take courage
    and the steadfast commitment of all. But throughout our history, we have
    always risen to the challenge of building better futures for our
    children. If we all work together, we are up to the task today as well.
        Thank you.

    Note: The address was recorded at 3:16 p.m. on September 18 in the Oval
    Office at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on September 20.