    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [October 31, 1999]
    [Pages 1940-1942]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the EgyptAir Flight 990 Aircraft Tragedy and the Budget and
    an Exchange With Reporters
    October 31, 1999

        The President. Good afternoon. Before I leave for Oslo, I would like
    to make a few comments. First, I want to say, as I did earlier today,
    how deeply saddened I am over the disappearance of EgyptAir flight 990
    early this morning off the coast of Massachusetts.
        We know there has been a loss of life. The Coast Guard, supported by
    the Navy, is conducting extensive search and rescue operations in the
    area. The effort will continue for as long as necessary. We are also
    working with Egyptian authorities, and I spoke earlier with President
    Mubarak of Egypt today to express my
    condolences and to assure him that we would be working together closely
    until this matter is resolved.
        We do not know what caused this tragedy, but we will devote every
    necessary resource so that we can understand exactly what happened. At
    this moment, the thoughts and prayers of all our people should be with
    the families of the passengers and crew of flight 990 from the

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    United States and other places throughout the world.
        In a few minutes, I will leave for Norway, where leaders will gather
    to honor the memory of one of the great heroes of this century, Israeli
    Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. We will honor him by not only remembering
    his life but by pursuing his vision of a peaceful Middle East.
        I will meet with Prime Minister Barak and
    Chairman Arafat, who are moving forward on an
    ambitious agenda to reach a comprehensive peace agreement. There are
    tremendous challenges ahead. I will do everything I can to help, because
    peace in the Middle East is strongly in the interest of the American
    people. And we have been working on it on a bipartisan basis for several
    years now.
        Now, before I leave, I also want to say just a few words about the
    budget debate here in Washington and how that debate may affect another
    matter of great interest to our people, the education of our children.
        This is now the seventh budget season I have been through as
    President. Each and every time, the Vice President and I have insisted
    that Congress produce budgets that live within our means while living up
    to the values of the American people. There is no greater value than
    education, especially in this information age. So even as we have
    reduced the size of Government to its smallest size in 37 years, we have
    nearly doubled our investment in education and training.
        We have turned deficits into surpluses. We have sparked an economic
    expansion because of it, that come February will be the longest in
    American history. But we have not stopped increasing our investment and
    targeting our investment to higher standards and higher quality
    education.
        Last fall we took another very important step. We reached an
    agreement with Congress to help States and school districts begin to
    hire 100,000 new teachers, new high-quality teachers that were well
    trained, to reduce class size in the early grades. The need for this was
    obvious. School enrollments are exploding; they are already the largest
    in history. And record numbers of our teachers soon will be retiring.
    Moreover, the research is clear that students learn more in classes with
    smaller, quality teachers.
        Today we've learned about a new report indicating that our class
    reduction initiative already is producing results. Moments ago, I was
    briefed by the gentleman here to my left, Mike Casserly, the executive director of the Council of Great
    City Schools, on the council's just completed survey of 40 of the
    Nation's largest school districts.
        The survey shows that our class size reduction initiative has so far
    done precisely what we said it would. It has put more teachers in the
    classroom and increased training for those already there, with a minimum
    of red-tape and bureaucracy. The report shows that these school
    districts have not only hired over 3,500 well-trained teachers, but they
    have hired them for hard to fill positions that add the greatest impact,
    including teaching reading, math, and special education.
        I'm not surprised by these results. Every time I've visited a school
    in recent months, teachers, principals, parents, administrators all have
    complimented, even raved about our class size reduction initiative.
        This report confirms that this targeted effort to hire more teachers
    is what local schools need and want. Last fall the congressional
    Republicans agreed to support this proposal. Many of them went home in
    the election seasons and enthusiastically shared the credit for it,
    which they were then entitled to do. I know that some of them even ran
    ads touting this idea as they embraced it.
        Now, suddenly, the Republican majority has changed its mind. And
    this week Congress will consider a labor and education budget bill that
    doesn't commit to hiring 100,000 new quality teachers. In fact, it
    reverses the targeted funding for the first installment of 30,000 that
    we passed last time. Nor does it put a dime into our effort to demand
    accountability for results by helping States and school districts to
    turn around or shut down their lowest performing schools.
        Moreover, it makes mindless across-the-board cuts in everything from
    education to health to safety. If that bill passes, I will veto it. I
    don't think the proper response to our education challenge is fewer
    teachers, no accountability, and across-the-board cuts in education.
        I want to hire 100,000 more teachers, 50,000 more community police
    to build on the effort that has given us the lowest crime rate in 30
    years. I want to protect the environment and invest in education
    strategies that work.
        Let me also reemphasize something. Many of those who say they don't
    want to target this money for hiring more teachers, say the money

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    is needed to improve the quality of the existing teaching force. These
    40 school districts I just mentioned not only hired over 3,500 new
    teachers; they gave professional development to over 22,000 teachers to
    improve their skills in the classroom.
        Our bill provides that money can be used to train existing teachers,
    and money can be used for recruitment as well as for salaries. In other
    words, this fund is flexible where it needs to be flexible but targeted
    where it needs to be targeted. This report shows conclusively that what
    we did in 1998, as Republicans and Democrats alike, was right. It shows
    that the Members of Congress in the Republican Party who ran ads in 1998
    complimenting themselves for the 100,000 teacher initiative were right
    then, and they shouldn't be changing their mind now.
        So once again, I ask Congress to put partisanship aside, read this
    report, and work with me to reduce class size, increase quality in
    teaching, and increase performance in our schools. We should be funding
    education strategies that work.
        Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Casserly.

    Middle East Peace Process

        Q. Mr. President, are you optimistic about Oslo?
        The President. Well, yes I am, based on the work that Prime Minister
    Barak and Chairman Arafat have done already. You know, they've now opened the
    safe passage between the West Bank and Gaza. They're working very
    closely together on security arrangements.
        But when the Oslo accords were made at the end--the very, very end
    of 1992, the people who put them together and the leaders who ratified
    them were quite smart. They left certain issues to be decided at the
    end, the so-called final status issues. They left them to the end
    because they're the hardest.
        And so now it's come time to make the hard decisions. This will be
    difficult for both sides. But I believe that they're well aware of what
    the options are, and I don't believe they'll get much easier with the
    passage of time. So I think it's very important that the United States
    do whatever we can to create the conditions and provide the support
    necessary for these people to come together and do what they genuinely
    want to do. And so yes, I'm hopeful. I don't expect that we'll announce
    the resolution of all the final status issues at Oslo, but I do think
    that we'll be moving the process right along.

    Effect of EgyptAir Flight 990 Aircraft Tragedy on Oslo Talks

        Q. Mr. President, are you worried that the EgyptAir crash will
    overshadow the Oslo trip?
        The President. Based on what I now know and my conversation with
    President Mubarak, based on what I now know, I
    do not believe that, no. I have no reason to believe that there is any
    element involved in this which would overshadow or shadow the work of
    peace.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 4:45 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White
    House prior to departure for Oslo, Norway. In his remarks, he referred
    to President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt; Prime Minister Ehud Barak of
    Israel; and Chairman Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority.