    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [September 27, 1999]
    [Pages 1605-1607]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at Sophie B. Wright Middle School in New Orleans, Louisiana
    September 27, 1999

        Thank you. Thank you so very much. My good friend
    Congressman Jefferson--I want to say
    more about him in a minute--and to his wonderful wife, Dr. Andrea
    Jefferson. Senator Landrieu, thank you for your friendship and support. Mayor
    Morial, you were very kind to talk about the
    role that we play in helping to lower the crime rate in New Orleans, but
    it never could have happened if we hadn't had a visionary mayor down
    here who made the most of the policies that were there.
        Colonel Davis, thank you for taking on the
    challenge of educating the children of this parish. To Gail
    Glapion, thank you very much for what you
    said. And Scott Shea, thank you. And Brenda
    Mitchell, the leader of our teachers, and
    especially to our principal, Charlotte Matthew, thank you for leading this school and for making me
    feel so welcome here.
        And I want to say a special word of thanks to all the people of
    Louisiana. As Congressman Jefferson said, in 1992 and 1996 you gave your
    electoral votes to Bill Clinton and Al Gore, and we are profoundly
    grateful, and we've tried to be worthy of them.
        I also want to thank the McDonogh High School Band. I want to thank
    them for being here. The rest of you are hot; they're in those band
    uniforms. I used to be in one, and I know how hot they are. And I want
    to thank them for being here.
        One other thing I'd like to say about this school, I want to
    compliment this school on your school uniforms. I like them, and I'm
    glad so many schools in this parish have them. I've been trying to
    promote them all across America for years now, and I thank you for that.
        You know, folks, I may have visited more schools than any President
    in history. I've certainly tried to. And I have never met a child that
    couldn't learn or a school that couldn't do better and be turned around.
    There is a student standing behind me--and I don't want to embarrass
    her, but I want her to raise her hand--named Nonya Grove, who scored at the 95th percentile on the science
    portion of the Iowa basic skills test. Good for you.
        Let me tell you, too, I have been in schools in all kinds of
    places--I've been in schools--I went to a junior high school in Chicago
    in a neighborhood with the highest murder rate in the city, which was,
    therefore, the highest murder rate in the State. But there was no
    violence in the school; there were no weapons; there were no problems.
    Hundreds of parents came to the school every week, and there were no
    dropouts, and almost all the kids went on to college. Why? Because they
    had a good plan, and they worked it hard. And they believe that all kids
    could learn.
        Now, the Federal Government does have an obligation to help you. And
    I want to thank Senator Landrieu and
    Congressman Jefferson and Senator
    Breaux and the others in your delegation and
    our party who have supported what we have tried to do to help the
    States, to help the States adopt higher academic standards in the Goals
    2000 program, to help them crack down on drugs and gangs and violence.
    And last fall we fought to get a downpayment on 100,000 new highly
    trained teachers to lower those class sizes in the early grades, as
    Congressman Jefferson wants to do.
        Already 108 more teachers have been hired in this parish, and your
    parish got $12 million

    [[Page 1606]]

    under the E-rate program that the Vice President developed--have cut the cost of hooking up every
    classroom in America to the Internet by the year 2000.
        Now, what we've done in education is a part of an overall strategy
    to bring America back. We balanced the Federal budget and have a surplus
    of $115 billion this year.
        When I took office, we were deep in debt 7 years ago, and we had
    high unemployment rates, high welfare rates, and high crime rates. We
    were committed to economic reform, welfare reform, reform of the
    criminal justice system, and education reform. Now we've got the longest
    peacetime expansion in history, over 19 million new jobs, the lowest
    unemployment rate in 29 years, the lowest welfare rolls in 32 years, the
    lowest crime rate in 26 years, the first time we've had two budget
    surpluses in a row in 42 years, when I was young enough to be in this
    school.
        The question is, what are we going to do with our prosperity? You
    know we've got a lot of challenges out there. And you know as well as I
    do that the modern economy requires more education from all people.
    We've got the largest student population in the history of our country,
    and we will never do what America ought to do until every child in
    America can live up to his or her God-given potential.
        Last week the congressional majority in the other party in the House
    unveiled an education budget that was $3 billion below what I asked for,
    no money to finish hiring the 100,000 teachers; no money to help
    modernize or build 6,000 schools. I know you need that now. We need--it
    can be hot out here, but every school ought to be air-conditioned in
    Louisiana, and I know they're not. It would deny access to hundreds of
    thousands of children to after-school programs, so important to
    improving learning and keeping that juvenile crime rate down--keep kids
    in school, off the street, and out of trouble; that's very important--
    and many other programs.
        Now, Congressman Jefferson had it
    right. We have to demand more of our schools and invest more in them.
    Our balanced budget calls for spending $200 million to help schools turn
    around if they're not performing well or shut them down and let parents
    choose other public schools if they don't turn around. But it is wrong
    to blame the kid, and it's wrong not to give the schools a chance. And
    we know these schools can be turned around if they have the resources
    and a good plan and they work the plan.
        We've got to do better in Washington, and that's my job. But I was,
    12 years, Governor of your neighboring State of Arkansas. And I know--I
    know--how important education is. You know, as President, the future of
    our children is the most important thing of all. But I have to pursue it
    in many ways. I have to preserve the national security. I have to work
    on making sure that we have Social Security and Medicare in a solid way,
    so that when the baby boomers retire, it doesn't bankrupt our kids and
    their ability to raise our grandkids. But if you're the Governor, the
    most important thing you ever have to do is see to the education of our
    children.
        Now, here's why I know Bill Jefferson cares about that. He was too modest to say this, but he
    was born very poor in a small town, and his parents and his teachers and
    his school helped him work his way all the way to Harvard University.
    Then he married a wonderful woman who is
    even smarter than he is. [Laughter] And they have had five
    magnificent daughters who have all had
    brilliant academic careers, four of them already gone through Harvard.
    Why? Because they had a good plan. They believed in education. They had
    parents and teachers and schools and students, and they worked at it
    steadily.
        So, no matter what I do as your President, you still need in
    Louisiana a Governor you know will fight for more teachers, for better
    teacher training, for better pay, for smaller classes, and for modern
    school buildings, for high standards and strong support.
        I can tell you, he's fought with me
    every step of the way in Washington. When we had to vote in 1993 to
    bring down the deficit and increase spending in education, and I said we
    had to balance the budget, but we weren't going to cut education, we
    were going to do more, all the members of the other party were against
    me. The bill carried by one vote. To a major extent, the economic
    prosperity America enjoys today belongs to one vote, and it carried in
    one vote. If Bill Jefferson hadn't been in Congress and voted the right
    way, we might not be standing here today.
        So let me say, I don't want him to
    leave, especially while I'm still in Washington. [Laughter] But he
    really can do even more good in

    [[Page 1607]]

    Baton Rouge. And remember, twice he was voted the Outstanding State
    Legislator in the Louisiana Legislature. He's fought for you in
    Washington; he'll fight for you and our children's education in Baton
    Rouge. And I am honored to be here with him today at this wonderful
    school.
        Thank you, and God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:45 a.m. in the courtyard. In his
    remarks, he referred to Mayor Marc H. Morial of New Orleans; Col. A.G.
    Davis, USMC, (Ret.), New Orleans superintendent of schools; Gail M.
    Glapion, president, and Scott P. Shea, vice president, New Orleans
    Parish School Board; Brenda Mitchell, president, United Teachers of New
    Orleans, and Representative Jefferson's daughters, Jamila, Jalila,
    Jelani, Nailah, and Akilah.