[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book I)]
[January 4, 2003]
[Pages 24-25]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's Radio Address
January 4, 2003

    Good morning. One year ago this month, our country set a bold new 
course in public education. With the No Child Left Behind Act, America 
began a promising era in our public schools, an era of local control, 
high standards, and accountability that will produce better results for 
America's students.
    Under the new law, key choices about education spending will be made 
at the local level by parents and teachers and principals who know the 
children best. Government cannot and must not try to run the Nation's 
schools from Washington, DC.
    Yet, the Federal Government has an important role. We are providing 
far more money than ever before to help States and local school 
districts, more than $22 billion in this school year alone. Over the 
last 2 years, we have increased Federal spending by 40 percent, and in 
return, we are insisting that schools use that money wisely. States must 
set new and higher goals for every student, to ensure that students are 
learning the basics of reading and math. The law also requires that 
schools regularly test students, share the results with parents, and 
show how the results in each school compare with others.
    My budget provides more than enough money for States to test every 
student, every year, in grades three-through-eight. Testing is the only 
way to know which students are learning and which students need extra 
help so we can give them help before they fall further behind.
    For parents with children in persistently failing schools, the law 
provides hopeful options. Those parents can choose to send their 
children to better public schools or receive funding to pay for after-
school tutoring or other academic help. No parent will have to settle 
year after year for schools that do not teach and will not change. 
Instead of getting excuses, parents will now get choices.
    Across America, States and school districts are working hard to 
implement these reforms. They are developing accountability plans and 
beginning innovative tutoring programs. The path to real reform and 
better results is not easy, but it is essential.
    The priorities of last year's reforms will also be reflected in the 
budget I will submit to Congress this year. Too many students in lower 
income families fall behind early, resulting in a terrible gap in test 
scores between these students and their more fortunate peers. To help 
close this achievement gap, I will ask Congress to approve an additional 
$1 billion, a total of 12.3 billion, for the Title I program in the 2004 
budget. This would be the highest funding level ever for Title I, which 
serves our neediest students.
    Our reforms will not be complete until every child in America has an 
equal chance

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to succeed in school and rise in the world. For every child, education 
begins with strong reading skills. With the Reading First program, we 
have set a national goal to make sure that every child in America is 
reading by the third grade. To move toward that goal, I will request 
more than $1.1 billion for Federal reading programs in next year's 
budget, an increase of $75 million over last year's budget request. This 
investment will go only to support programs with proven results in 
teaching children to read.
    The No Child Left Behind Act was a victory of bipartisan 
cooperation. By this law, we affirmed our basic faith in the wisdom of 
parents and communities and our fundamental belief in the promise of 
every child. The work of reform is well begun, and we are determined to 
continue that effort until every school in America is a place of 
learning and achievement.
    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 8:43 a.m. on January 3 at the Bush 
Ranch in Crawford, TX, for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on January 4. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
January 3 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. In his 
remarks, the President referred to Title I of the Improving America's 
Schools Act of 1994 (Public Law No. 103-382), which amended Title I of 
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (Public Law No. 89-
10). The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language 
transcript of this address.