    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book II)]
    [July 1, 2003]
    [Pages 805-810]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the KIPP DC: KEY Academy
    July 1, 2003

        Thank you all very much. Thanks for coming. Please be seated. Thanks
    for coming. I'm honored that--I'm honored you'd have me--[laughter]--
    here at KIPP Academy. Susan, thanks for
    your hospitality.
        I know something about KIPP Academy, the network. The reason I do
    is, when I was the Governor of Texas, I went to a school in Houston that
    was called KIPP Academy. Nobody had ever heard of it. I think Steve--is
    that you back there, Steve? No, it's not. I thought Steve was here. You
    look like Steve. [Laughter] And they said--the principal--and they said,
    ``Come by the school.'' And it was full of kids that were not supposed
    to be able to learn. You know, our State at that time was suffering what
    I call the soft bigotry of low expectations. Perhaps that's happening in
    places in the District as well. You see, when you lower the bar, that's
    what you get, low results. So they had labeled these kids, you know,
    unable to learn, difficult to learn.
        So I go to this KIPP Academy. And first of all, I was overwhelmed by
    the spirit of the kids, the involvement of the parents, the dedication
    of the teachers, and the entrepreneurial spirit of the principal. And
    then I said, ``Well, are you making any progress here at KIPP Academy
    with these so-called hard to educate?'' And the answer was, ``Yes.
    They're the best middle school in the city of Houston.'' The reason we
    knew is because we measured. We wouldn't have known that had we not
    measured.
        The KIPP Academy sets high standards. It's got the absolute right
    attitude for education, in my judgment. First of all, it says, ``Every
    child can learn. We refuse to condemn any child to mediocrity and
    failure. We have high standards; we have high expectations; and we're
    going to meet those

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    high standards and high expectations with a curriculum which works.''
        And so I want to congratulate you, Susan, and the KIPP Academy entrepreneurs who are challenging
    mediocrity on a daily basis and raising standards for those who in some
    communities have been condemned to failure. Thanks for having us here,
    and thanks for the bright example you've set.
        What we're really here is to talk about how do we make sure that the
    education system works for everybody. That's why the act that we passed
    out of Congress, the law, was called the No Child Left Behind Act. And
    the reason why it was called the No Child Left Behind Act, it set out a
    goal for the country that every child deserves a good education. And it
    said no child should be left behind, which means we'd better understand
    whether any--we'd better answer the question, ``Is every child
    learning?''
        But that wasn't the case oftentimes in America, public schools. We
    didn't know whether or not we were achieving what we expected. And so we
    passed this law. And the law basically said, in return for Federal
    dollars, the Federal Government will finally start asking the question,
    ``What are the results?''--that we expect to spend money, and as a
    matter of fact, we set record levels of expenditure for elementary and
    secondary education programs and Title I programs. That's an obligation
    of the Federal Government. We met the obligation with the largest budget
    increases in our history. But instead of just spending money, we're
    starting to ask the question, ``What's happening in the classrooms?''
    And if things are good, we want to praise the schools that are working,
    like KIPP Academy. But if we find things are lousy and children are
    being left behind, instead of just accepting the status quo, it is now
    time for our society to challenge failure. And that's what we're doing.
        And I'm proud of Washington, DC. Washington, DC, is willing to
    challenge failure and to praise success. This is not an easy issue for
    some in the political process. It is hard to take on the established
    order, particularly when you have to blow the whistle on failure. Nobody
    likes to have the whistle blown. But for the sake of our children, we
    need to be blowing whistles. And so I appreciate very much the Mayor.
    Mayor Williams has stood strong, along
    with the Councilman Chavous. And I appreciate
    my friend David being here as well, for
    standing strong and making sure that the children--we focus on results,
    not process.
        I want to thank very much my friend Rod Paige. When I hired--hired--I asked Rod to join me. I didn't hire
    him. [Laughter] He gets hired by school boards, not by Presidents.
    [Laughter] I was interested in somebody that actually had been on the
    frontlines of public school education. He had a tough job in Texas. He
    was running the Houston Independent School District, which is a heck of
    a lot tougher than being President. [Laughter] And the results in
    Houston were exceptional because Rod challenged the soft bigotry of low
    expectations and raised the bar. And he understands you've got to hold
    people accountable in life. And so he's doing a fine job for our
    country.
        And Peggy, I appreciate you being
    here, too. Peggy is the head of the school board. That is a tough job.
    That's a tough job, and I thank you for taking it on.
        I appreciate the Members of Congress coming. Tom, I'm glad you're here. I'm honored you're here. He's the
    chairman of the House Government Reform Committee. He is concerned about
    making sure DC functions well, its schools function well. He's going to
    work closely with the Mayor. And Rodney
    Frelinghuysen is here as well. He's the
    House Appropriations Subcommittee on the District of Columbia. I'm sure
    he and the Mayor spend a lot of time talking and coming up with the
    amount of money the Mayor thinks is appropriate

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    to run this important city. My only admonition is to make sure the
    potholes in front of the White House are full. [Laughter]
        But I want to thank you guys for coming here today. We're going to
    talk about an extremely important initiative that will make a difference
    in the lives of children here in the city. And I want to describe it a
    little bit, this Federal initiative that is going to serve as a model
    for the rest of the country. I want my second home to become a model of
    excellence so that when people see the educational entrepreneurial
    spirit alive and well in DC, they realize they can do the same in their
    own communities.
        Father McCarrick, thank
    you for coming, too, sir. I appreciate the--I appreciate your presence.
    I appreciate the excellence of the Catholic school system, not only here
    in Washington but around the country. I think it's very important for
    our fellow citizens to see the Catholic school system as a model of what
    is possible, how to provide a high-quality education at a reasonable
    cost per student. And it's an interesting--these Catholic schools can
    serve not only as an interesting go-by but as a model as well for other
    schools in the District.
        Listen, the No Child Left Behind Act understands that there must be
    accountability, and the way you achieve accountability is you measure.
    And so now we're measuring a lot. We're measuring annually to determine
    whether or not the children can read and write and add and subtract.
    We've got to know that. The first fundamental question in terms of
    achieving educational excellence is to measure and to provide the test
    and to see whether or not the children have got the basics--and if they
    do, recognize that the curriculum being used is working; if they don't,
    recognize something has got to change.
        See, the measurement is not meant to punish; it is meant to remedy.
    It is meant to serve as a diagnostic tool. No one ever wants to measure,
    to hold a good teacher up and say, ``You know, gosh, you've got a good
    heart, but you're doing a lousy job. Therefore, you're a failure.''
    That's not the reason you measure. The reason you measure is you say to
    a teacher, ``You've got a great heart, but you need to fine-tune what
    you're doing because it's not working right now.''
        You've also got to measure in order to begin to effect change that's
    just more--when there's more than talk, there's just actual--a paradigm
    shift. That's what measurement does. It provides the foundations for
    significant change.
        Accountability is important. But accountability without consequences
    means nothing. So in other words, if you measure and find success, there
    needs to be--something needs to happen, which is praise. And parents
    will say, ``Well, gosh, if that's successful, I think we'll continue
    sending my child to that school.'' But if parents don't have any options
    other than a public school system, there's no accountability--really no
    accountability. In other words, if there's nothing else can happen, if
    you find failure and you're stuck, why measure? And so one of the things
    that we're going to talk about today is making sure that any
    accountability system has got--has got some oomph to it, by trusting
    parents to make the right decision for their particular child.
        The District of Columbia needs to improve. Let me just put it
    bluntly. [Laughter] There are some great schools in the District, and
    there are some lousy schools in the District. There has been a recent
    measurement to determine how the District schools do relative to other
    schools around the country. Ninety--in grades four and eight--those were
    the two grades tested--the District of Columbia scored below every
    single State in the Union in terms of basic skills. And that's
    unacceptable. It's unacceptable to the Mayor. It's unacceptable to the City Council. It's unacceptable
    to Peggy. It's unacceptable, most
    importantly, to the parents. And we need to do something about it.

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        And the Mayor and the City Council
    and Peggy have started by invigorating
    a--having a vigorous charter school program. See, charter schools say to
    the world, ``If you've got a better idea, show up and show us whether or
    not you can do a better job of challenging the status quo, if the status
    quo is failing.'' And that's what's happening in Washington, and I want
    to applaud the city for being on the front edge of the charter school
    initiative.
        I'm going to work with Congress--and I appreciate the Members of
    Congress being here to--we need to boost our budget for charter schools.
    I proposed $320 million for charter schools. I want to work specifically
    with the city of Washington, DC. The Mayor and I have--I answer the Mayor's calls, and he
    occasionally answers mine. [Laughter] And one of the things that he
    likes to talk about is the need to make sure that the charter school
    system here is--receives good Federal attention. After all, the Federal
    Government has got a lot to do with how the schools in Washington, DC,
    are funded. So we're committed to a charter school program in my
    administration. I think it's one of the options that ought to be made
    available to parents.
        KIPP Academy is a charter school. The money follows the child, and
    that makes sense. The problem is that oftentimes there's not enough
    charter schools in certain communities to meet the demand. And there is
    big demand here in Washington, DC, for alternatives other than the
    status quo. And so I've got an idea that I want to share with you today
    about how to meet that demand. And that is, I'm going to request $75
    million from the Congress for what we call a choice incentive fund. This
    will be basically scholarships for students to be able to use the money
    as they see fit, public or private. Obviously, private is where you're
    going to require tuition.
        Fifteen million of that dollars will stay here in Washington. It is
    the beginning of a school choice program funded by the Federal
    Government for students here in Washington, DC. The scholarships will
    range up to $7,500 per student. If the private school charges less than
    that, then the remainder, the difference between $7,500 and the tuition,
    goes back into the pot so that more children will be funded. We think
    this will affect a couple of thousand children here in Washington, DC.
    It is the beginning of an experiment that will show whether or not
    private school choice makes a difference in quality education in public
    schools. I happen to believe it will.
        I do believe that competition will serve its purpose, and that
    will--other schools will say, ``Wait a minute. We're losing folks. We
    better try something differently. The accountability system says we're
    not doing so well. We need to remember the customer.'' The customer
    happens to be the parent and the student. And I believe the change will
    cause folks to want to invigorate their own curriculum and to figure out
    what's going right or wrong. It will certainly shake the system up. And
    it sounds like to me the system needs to be shaken up if you're not
    doing as well as you should be here in Washington, DC.
        People say, ``Well, gosh, if you're going to do that, then there
    will be no accountability.'' Of course, if a school receives a
    scholarship, then the school needs to be held accountable as well. The
    same accountability system applies to the recipient school as it does to
    the public schools in Washington. We want there to be accountability
    throughout the system. Father McCarrick wouldn't mind that at all. He runs a system that is
    anxious to be held accountable. And so if a private scholarship ends up
    in a Catholic school, people will be held to account. After all, it's
    taxpayers' money. We want to know. We want to know whether it--in a
    public school or a private school, whether or not the children are
    learning.
        Now, if there--if we run out of--if there's more applicants than
    scholarships,

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    then people will say, ``What's going to happen?'' Well, there needs to
    be a lottery. I mean, there needs to be a fair way--this isn't--to make
    sure that everybody has got an equal shot. And then, of course, the
    Congress is going to want to know whether or not the program is working,
    just like the President will want to know. And so therefore, what we'll
    end up doing is, Rod will measure and then
    submit a report to the Congress on an annual basis, so that people will
    begin to see firsthand whether or not what we're attempting to do in
    Washington, DC, has got the positive effect that a lot of us think it
    will have.
        Look, what we're trying to do is to give parents more options. Step
    one was to measure. Step two was to post the results so everybody knows,
    so they can compare school to school. Step three is to say, ``In any
    accountability system, there has to be consequences.'' And the
    consequences, when it comes to education, for failure is the parent
    says, ``I've had it. I'm going to a different option for my particular
    child.''
        The other thing that's important is we've got to have the
    philosophical notion that we cannot have a two-tiered education system
    in America, one tier for those who can afford a certain type of school
    and one tier for those who can't. And so this plan is an attempt to say:
    The two-tiered deal is over with; we're starting to a new tier.
        And there's a demand for this, by the way, in Washington. The
    Washington Scholarship Fund is an interesting idea where people came
    together--I presume from the business community and others--and put up
    money to help children. There are 1,000 applications last year for 100
    slots. It's a measurement, a data point, a measurement of demand, where
    people are interested in doing something differently.
        Virginia Walden-Ford, who I met, is
    the executive director of the DC Parents for School Choice. She says
    that hundreds of calls come in each week to her organization. Parents
    are wondering, ``Do I have a choice? Is there something else I can do?
    I'm frustrated.''
        Virginia is a good person to be
    running the program. She--mom of three--her youngest son looked like he was a--I guess the best way to
    describe it would be a train wreck. He wasn't doing well in the public
    school system. He might say the system quit on him, but he certainly
    quit on the system. And Virginia pulled him up and got him into a
    Catholic school. The ninth grade on, he became a student. He was
    challenged. It raised his standards. He's now a United States Marine.
    He's preparing to go to the college. It's a wonderful story about
    Archbishop Carroll High School. More importantly, it's a wonderful story
    about a mom who never gave up.
        So she's taking that experience and is now trying to help other
    parents who are frustrated and other parents who are looking for
    different options for a particular child. I want to thank her for that
    very much. Here's what she said. She said, ``Low-income parents don't
    want handouts. They just want the same opportunities to send their
    children to schools that meet their children's needs.'' And I appreciate
    that comment, and I appreciate you working on this.
        I appreciate meeting Valarie Garland
    today. We had a very emotional meeting. Valarie is concerned,
    frustrated, worried. We had a--we shed a tear or two about the future.
    Valarie is a single mom--which, by the way, is the toughest job in
    America. It's really hard to be a single mom in our country. And then
    she's a single mom who is worried about the education system, on top.
    And her emotions came forth, and we had a good visit about trying to
    provide a hopeful future for Valarie's child. And I believe we can get
    the Congress to move on this. It will make a difference in a lot of
    people's lives here in Washington.
        Let me summarize by saying, first of all, there's a lot of great
    teachers in America. There's a lot of great teachers right here in
    Washington, DC. There's a lot of good,

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    hard-working folks. And we need to always keep in mind the need to
    praise our teachers and to praise people on the frontlines of education.
        Sometimes, however, the system, the curriculum, whatever it may be,
    it becomes stagnant. And wherever we find mediocrity, this society has
    an obligation to challenge that. And that's what we're talking about
    today. We're talking about making sure no child gets left behind by
    focusing on each child. And the best way to focus on each child is to
    look at results and then remember the decisionmaker, who the
    decisionmaker is in society. The decisionmaker is the mom or the dad.
        The District of Columbia is setting a bright example of what is
    possible in education reform. And I'm here to praise the public school
    system of Washington, DC, and for those who are working hard to make it
    better. I'm here to praise the elected officials of Washington, DC, for
    your willingness to step out and to confront failure when you see it and
    to praise success when you see it as well.
        And I'm here to say to the parents of Washington, DC: We care about
    your children. Each child matters. We believe every child can learn.
    We're going to challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations in the
    Nation's Capital and around the country, because we know a more hopeful
    America depends on this Nation's capacity to educate each and every
    child.
        I want to thank you for coming, and may God bless America.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:05 a.m. in a classroom at the school. In
    his remarks, he referred to Susan Schaeffler, principal, KIPP DC: KEY
    Academy; Mayor Anthony A. Williams of Washington, DC; Kevin Chavous and
    David Catania, members, District of Columbia City Council; Peggy Cooper
    Cafritz, president, DC Board of Education; Representative Tom Davis; and
    Theodore E. Cardinal McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington.