    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
    [January 8, 2002]
    [Pages 23-26]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Signing the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 in Hamilton,
    Ohio
    January 8, 2002

        The President. Thank you all very much.
        Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
        The President. Okay. I know you all are anxious to get back to
    class. [Laughter] So please be seated. [Laughter] Thank you for such a
    warm welcome. It's great to be in the home of the Big Blue, Hamilton
    High School. I want to thank you all for coming. I particularly want to
    thank my friend the Governor of the great State of
    Ohio, Governor Taft, for being here. I want to thank Tracey
    Miller for being so hospitable. I want to
    thank all who have come to witness this historic moment.
        For those of you who have studied the history of our Government, you
    know most bills are signed at the White House. But I decided to sign
    this bill in one of the most important places in America, a public
    school.
        We've got large challenges here in America. There's no greater
    challenge than to make sure that every child--and all of us on this
    stage mean every child, not just a few children--every single child,
    regardless of where they live, how they're raised, the income level of
    their family, every child receive a first-class education in America.
        And as you know, we've got another challenge, and that's to protect
    America from evil ones. And I want to assure the seniors and juniors and
    sophomores here at Hamilton High School that the effort that this great
    country is engaged in, the effort to defend freedom and to defend our
    people, the effort to rout out terror wherever it exists, is noble and
    just and right, and your great country will prevail in this effort.
        I long for peace. But I also understand that if we do not lead the
    world against terror, that your children and your grandchildren will not
    grow up in a society that is as free as the society we have today.
    Freedom is the precious gift that one generation can pass to the next.
    It is a gift and a promise that I intend to keep to the American
    children.
        And we owe the children of America a good education. And today
    begins a new era, a new time in public education in our country. As of
    this hour, America's schools will be on a new path of reform and a new
    path of results.

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        Our schools will have higher expectations. We believe every child
    can learn. Our schools will have greater resources to help meet those
    goals. Parents will have more information about the schools and more say
    in how their children are educated. From this day forward, all students
    will have a better chance to learn, to excel, and to live out their
    dreams.
        I want to thank the Secretary of Education, Rod Paige, for being here and for his leadership. I asked
    Rod to join my administration because I wanted somebody who understood
    what it meant to run a school district in Washington, DC. I didn't need
    somebody that based his knowledge on theory; I wanted somebody who based
    his knowledge on experience. And Rod was a teacher, a school board
    member, and the superintendent of the Houston Independent School
    District. He did a fine job there, and he's doing a fine job in
    Washington.
        Reaching this moment has not been easy, as you could tell from
    Chairman Boehner's discussion. [Laughter]
    But we made it because of the willingness of four fine leaders to do
    what was right for America. We made it because proud Members of the
    House and the Senate, loyal to their parties, decided to set partisan
    politics aside and focus on what was right for America.
        I want to thank George Miller. I call him
    Big George, Jorge el Grande. [Laughter] As John mentioned, George and I
    aren't from the same political ideology; except when I met with George
    in Austin, I could tell he shares the same passion I share for making
    sure that every child gets educated. And he, like me and others, realize
    that a system that simply shuffles children through the schools is a
    system that's going to leave people behind, and so we made up our minds
    right then and there to do something about it.
        I appreciate so very much my friend Judd Gregg from the State of New Hampshire being here. He was my
    campaign manager in the New Hampshire primary. I still invited him to
    come with me. [Laughter] After here, we're going to New Hampshire. I
    look forward to singing Judd's praises because he is a solid, solid
    United States Senator, honest, full of integrity, and like the others
    here, he buckled down to do what was right for the children.
        And then, of course, there's Senator Edward Kennedy. And the folks at the Crawford coffee shop--[laughter]--
    would be somewhat shocked when I told them I actually like the fellow.
    [Laughter] He is a fabulous United States Senator. When he's against
    you, it's tough; when he's with you, it is a great experience.
        And I'm signing this bill here because it's the home of the
    chairman, John Boehner. John did a really
    good job. He shepherded the process. He made sure people showed up for
    the meetings. He was dogged in his determination to get this bill done.
    It would not have happened without his leadership. And all four of these
    Members up here need to be proud of the legacy they have left behind.
    This is a good bill for the American children, and I'm proud to sign it
    in their presence.
        There are other Members of the Congress who are here, as well, and I
    want to thank them for coming. Senator Evan Bayh
    from the State of Indiana is here. Evan, thank you for your leadership
    on education reform. Senator Mike DeWine of your
    State of Ohio, who helped author--who helped to author the safe and
    drug-free schools part of this bill, thank you for your leadership.
    Steve Chabot of Ohio, Van Hilleary of
    Tennessee, thank you both for coming, as well.
        In that box is the bill. I don't intend to read it all. [Laughter]
    It's not exactly light reading. [Laughter] But if you were to read it
    all, you would find that it contains some very important principles that
    will help guide our public school system for the next decades.
        First principle is accountability. Every school has a job to do, and
    that's to teach the basics and teach them well. If we want

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    to make sure no child is left behind, every child must learn to read,
    and every child must learn to add and subtract. So in return for Federal
    dollars, we are asking States to design accountability systems to show
    parents and teachers whether or not children can read and write and add
    and subtract in grades three through eight.
        The fundamental principle of this bill is that every child can
    learn, we expect every child to learn, and you must show us whether or
    not every child is learning. I read a quote one time from a young lady
    in New York. She said, ``I don't ever remember taking an exam. They just
    kept passing me along. I ended up dropping out in the seventh grade. I
    basically felt nobody cared.''
        The story of children being just shuffled through the system is one
    of the saddest stories of America. ``Let's just move them through.''
    It's so much easier to move a child through than trying to figure out
    how to solve a child's problems. The first step to making sure that a
    child is not shuffled through is to test that child as to whether or not
    he or she can read and write or add and subtract.
        The first way to solve a problem is to diagnose it. And so, what
    this bill says, it says every child can learn. And we want to know
    early, before it's too late, whether or not a child has a problem in
    learning. I understand taking tests aren't fun. Too bad. [Laughter] We
    need to know in America. We need to know whether or not children have
    got the basic education.
        No longer is it acceptable to hide poor performance. No longer is it
    acceptable to keep results away from parents. One of the interesting
    things about this bill, it says that we're never going to give up on a
    school that's performing poorly, that when we find poor performance, a
    school will be given time and incentives and resources to correct their
    problems. A school will be given time to try other methodologies,
    perhaps other leadership, to make sure that people can succeed. If,
    however, schools don't perform, if, however, given the new resources,
    focused resources, they are unable to solve the problem of not educating
    their children, there must be real consequences. There must be a moment
    in which parents can say, ``I've had enough of this school.'' Parents
    must be given real options in the face of failure in order to make sure
    reform is meaningful.
        And so, therefore, this bill's second principle is, is that we trust
    parents to make the right decisions for their children. Any school that
    doesn't perform, any school that cannot catch up and do its job, a
    parent will have these options: a better public school, a tutor, or a
    charter school. We do not want children trapped in schools that will not
    change and will not teach.
        The third principle of this bill is that we have got to trust the
    local folks on how to achieve standards, to meet the standards. In
    Washington, there's some smart people there, but the people who care
    most about the children in Hamilton are the citizens of Hamilton. The
    people who care most about the children in this school are the teachers
    and parents and school board members. And therefore, schools not only
    have the responsibility to improve; they now have the freedom to
    improve. The Federal Government will not micromanage how schools are
    run. We believe strongly--we believe strongly the best path to education
    reform is to trust the local people. And so the new role of the Federal
    Government is to set high standards, provide resources, hold people
    accountable, and liberate school districts to meet the standards.
        I can't think of any better way to say to teachers, ``We trust
    you.'' And first of all, we've got to thank all the teachers who are
    here. I thank you for teaching. Yours is indeed a noble profession, and
    our society is better off because you decided to teach. And by saying we
    trust local folks, we're really saying we trust you. We trust you. We
    want you to have as much flexibility as possible to see to it that every

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    child that walks in your classroom can succeed. So thank you for what
    you do.
        And a fourth principle is that we're going to spend more money, more
    resources, but they'll be directed at methods that work, not feel-good
    methods, not sound-good methods, but methods that actually work,
    particularly when it comes to reading. We're going to spend more on our
    schools, and we're going to spend it more wisely.
        If we've learned anything over the last generations, money alone
    doesn't make a good school. It certainly helps. But as John mentioned, we've spent billions of dollars with lousy
    results. So now it's time to spend billions of dollars and get good
    results.
        As John mentioned, too many of our kids
    can't read. You know, a huge percentage of children in poverty can't
    read at grade level. That's not right in America. We're going to win the
    war overseas, and we need to win the war against illiteracy here at
    home, as well. And so this bill--so this bill focuses on reading. It
    sets a grand goal for the country: Our children will be reading by the
    third grade. That's not an impossible goal. It's a goal we must meet if
    we want every child to succeed. And so, therefore, we tripled the amount
    of Federal funding for scientifically based early reading programs.
        We've got money in there to make sure teachers know how to teach
    what works. We've got money in there to help promote proven methods of
    instruction. There are no more excuses, as far as I'm concerned, about
    not teaching children how to read. We know what works, the money is now
    available, and it's up to each local district to make sure it happens.
    It's up to you, the citizens of Hamilton, to make sure no child is left
    behind. And the Federal Government can spend money, and we can help set
    standards, and we can insist upon accountability. But the truth of the
    matter is, our schools will flourish when citizens join in the noble
    cause of making sure no child is left behind.
        This is the end of a legislative process. Signing this bill is the
    end of a long, long time of people sitting in rooms trying to hammer out
    differences. It's a great symbol of what is possible in Washington when
    good people come together to do what's right. But it's just the
    beginning of change. And now it's up to you, the local citizens of our
    great land, the compassionate, decent citizens of America, to stand up
    and demand high standards, and to demand that no child--not one single
    child in America--is left behind.
        Thank you for letting us come. May God bless.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:50 a.m. in the gymnasium at Hamilton High
    School. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Bob Taft of Ohio and Tracey
    Miller, principal, Hamilton High School. H.R. 1, approved January 8, was
    assigned Public Law No. 107-110.