    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book I)]
    [January 9, 2004]
    [Pages 39-43]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the National Catholic Educational Association
    January 9, 2004

        Welcome, please. Thanks for coming. Please be seated. Thanks for
    coming. [Laughter] Welcome to the people's house. We're glad you're
    here.
        The last 100 years, the leadership of the National Catholic
    Education Association has been vital in advancing the work of Catholic
    schools around the Nation and, therefore, has been vital to the hopeful
    future of America. I'm honored to join you for celebrating your 100th
    anniversary. And this is a fitting place to celebrate the anniversary.
        Catholic schools carry out a great mission, to serve God by building
    knowledge and character of our young people. It's a noble calling. It's
    an important part of the fabric of America. By teaching the Word of God,
    you prepare your students to follow a path of virtue and compassion and
    sacrifice for the rest of their lives. And by insisting on high
    standards for academic achievement, Catholic schools are a model for all
    schools around our country.
        I was hoping to run into a fellow Texan today. [Laughter] His
    Excellency Gregory Aymond is the bishop
    from Austin, Texas. [Laughter] He is--I'm glad there's only a handful of
    Texans here. [Laughter] The bishop is the board chair of the National
    Catholic Education Association, and I want to thank you for joining us.
        I appreciate Michael Guerra. Michael
    Guerra is the president of the National Catholic Education Association.
    Michael, thank you, and thank you for all the board members who
    graciously had a picture taken in the Blue Room with me. I appreciate
    you doing that.
        His Excellency John Cummins, who is the
    bishop emeritus of Oakland, California, is with us. His Excellency,
    thank you for being here, sir.
        I appreciate Carl Anderson, the Supreme
    Knight of the Knights of Columbus, and Dorian for joining us today.
        I'm sorry my neighbor His Eminence Theodore Cardinal
    McCarrick is not with

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    us, a decent man. [Laughter] I really, really am proud to call him
    friend. He's a really good guy, as we say in Texas.
        I appreciate you all coming. I really do. Thanks for being here.
        Catholic educators share the basic conviction that every child can
    learn and every child can learn to lead a life of service. That's a
    pretty good mission statement, isn't it? Let us teach every child to
    read and write and add and subtract, and as we do so, let us teach every
    child to serve a cause greater than self. The whole Nation benefits
    because of the good scholars and good citizens who graduate from
    Catholic schools. That is a fact.
        Through your faith in every child--and I emphasize ``every child''--
    Catholic schools have overcome challenges and experienced remarkable
    results. It is well known that Catholic schools operate on small
    budgets. [Laughter] The per-pupil cost in a Catholic school classroom is
    substantially below the per-pupil costs of many other schools, public or
    private.
        And yet, the results are astonishing: 2.6 million students who
    attend Catholic schools will graduate--that's 99 percent--and almost all
    go to college. Even though the per-pupil expenditure per classroom is
    low, the results are extremely high. And it says something is going
    right, starting with the fact that Catholic schools have high
    expectations. You challenge what I call the soft bigotry of low
    expectations. You believe in the worth of every person and every child.
    You believe that inherent in every child is the capacity to learn. And
    you refuse to quit on any child.
        The Catholic schools understand that love and discipline go hand in
    hand. The Catholic schools are willing to change curriculum if it
    doesn't work. The Catholic schools sometimes meet longer hours than some
    would expect is the norm. Take LaSalle Academy, a Catholic school in
    Philadelphia. Students attend classes from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the
    school year is several weeks longer than average. Whatever it takes to
    make sure no child is left behind, the Catholic schools do.
        In addition to learning to read and write, students take courses in
    computers and music and art. At David McDonough, the principal of the school said this, ``We bombard
    them''--that would be his students--[laughter]--``We bombard them with
    love, attention, and work, and they thrive.''
        An important part of the Catholic education is the commitment to
    serving what our society calls the disadvantaged student, regardless of
    religious affiliation. I appreciate that a lot. These are the students
    who sometimes in the public school system are deemed to be uneducable
    and, therefore, are just moved through the system. The Catholic schools
    have done our country a great service by a special outreach to minority
    children, who make up 26 percent of the enrollment of our Catholic
    schools. This is a great service to those children and their parents and
    our country.
        Catholic schools have a proven record of bringing out the best in
    every child, regardless of their background. And every school in America
    should live up to that standard. We want our public schools to live up
    to the standard you have set in Catholic schools.
        I signed what's called the No Child Left Behind Act. It is the most
    historic education reform in a generation. It actually passed with
    bipartisan support, which is unusual for Washington these days.
    [Laughter] Let me tell you a little bit about the philosophy behind the
    law, and I think you'll find it to be reminiscent.
        First, the law assumes that every child can learn and, therefore,
    expects every child to learn. We've increased Federal spending and now,
    for the first--at the Federal level, primarily for Title I students,
    many of whom would be--go to your schools, if they went to the public--
    would be eligible for this program--if they went to public schools, many
    of your students would be eligible for this program. But in

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    return, we now expect results. See, we believe every child can learn,
    and therefore, we're saying to States, ``You must measure to show us
    whether a child has learned to read and write and add and subtract. And
    if not, let's solve the problem early, before it's too late.''
        In other words, we've introduced accountability into the system for
    the first time, insisted upon accountability, and then said, ``Let's
    have enough money available to correct problems.'' And so now the States
    must test regularly, every year. And if the curriculum isn't working,
    you change it. And if it is working, there will be plenty of praise. If
    the math programs aren't working, change them, because we now expect
    results. Because like the Catholic schools, we believe in the worth of
    every child. We're challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations by
    raising the standard and refusing to accept the status quo when our
    children are not learning.
        We've also done something different as well. We've insisted that
    these schools post results. It's an interesting phenomena to see a
    parent react when the expectation isn't met for a public school. In
    other words, everything may be fine, and all of a sudden the test scores
    are revealed and, oops, my school is not doing like I thought it was
    doing and, therefore, I, a parent, should become more involved in my
    child's school when I see failure.
        But even beyond that, we've begun introducing to the system for the
    first time at the Federal level the capacity to take Federal money and
    spend that money in the private sector to get special tutorials. In
    other words, if a child is trapped in a school which is failing and
    won't change, after a reasonable period of time, there is some money
    that follows the child and the child can take that money--the parent can
    take that money and get his or her child additional tutoring at a public
    facility, private charity, or at a Catholic school.
        And so all of a sudden the No Child Left Behind Act not only demands
    accountability, but we've also started to empower parents to make
    additional choices for their child when the child is trapped into a
    school that won't change. And that includes, by the way, not only
    private tutoring but also a additional public school, a different--in
    other words, what we're trying to do is introduce parental involvement
    through accountability standards.
        Parents, I believe--and I believe we ought to expand this
    opportunity further, which we're trying to do here in Washington, DC.
    And I want to describe to you right quick what this administration has
    done, where you can help a little bit in perhaps influencing the
    process, to begin what I think is a major reform.
        As you know, the Government is responsible for much of the education
    in Washington, DC. And so working with people in Congress, we decided to
    expand on the spirit of the No Child Left Behind Act and introduce
    school choice here in Washington. Under this program, the Federal
    Government would provide what's called scholarships to low-income
    families with children in under-performing schools--these families whose
    children clearly need better choices; if you're going to an under-
    performing school, you need a better choice--would receive a scholarship
    of up to $7,500, Federal money, to help meet the cost of tuition at any
    school of the parents' choice, a private school or a Catholic school,
    for that matter.
        I suspect that this program would have a lot of takers when we can
    get it funded, because I think some parents, any parent, regardless of
    his or her income status, wants the best for their child. And when they
    begin to feel like the school isn't meeting the child's needs, it's just
    natural that they be looking for an alternative. The Catholic school
    system here in DC provides a really good alternative. And the Federal
    Government is now willing to help fund that alternative.
        The good news is education is a priority in DC. The Mayor, a good fellow and a

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    strong leader, recognizes the advantages of having a school choice
    program. Mayor Tony Williams is a strong supporter of the initiative we
    put forth on Capitol Hill. The House passed a bill that provides $14
    million for this $7,500 per child scholarship program. It is a part of
    the Senate omnibus bill--that's what we call it, an omnibus bill--that
    has yet to be passed. The omnibus bill contains a lot of other parts of
    the appropriations process. The Senate is getting ready to come back
    into town. For the sake of educational excellence and for the sake of
    trusting parents to make the right decision for their children, for the
    sake, really, of helping to begin a change in education around the
    country, for the sake of helping the Catholic schools in the DC area
    fulfill their mission, meet their obligation, and to continue doing the
    excellent work they're doing, the Senate needs to pass this bill and
    make school choice in Washington, DC, a reality.
        I want to build on this vital reform. I'm going to ask Congress to
    provide 50 million new dollars in this year's budget for what we call a
    national choice incentive fund. The program would award Federal grants
    to communities and organizations that help students, especially those
    from low-income families and those trapped in under-performing schools,
    to find a better education, become seed money for additional programs
    like the DC choice program I just described to you.
        The initiative has a simple goal, yet it's a profound goal, to help
    more parents send their children to the school that is best for them, no
    matter what kind of school it is. When parents have more control over
    their children's education, children have a better chance to learn,
    schools have a better incentive to improve.
        Much of what is behind the No Child Left Behind Act, the spirit and
    the philosophy of the No Child Left Behind Act, came from the examples
    set by the Catholic schools. It's a sense of what is possible. It is a
    sense that everybody has worth, that each soul matters. And therefore,
    we will not accept systems that just shuffle people through.
        Everyone involved in the National Catholic Education Association can
    look back with pride over 100 years of excellence. And that's what we're
    here to celebrate today, 100 years of excellence. You are serving God by
    serving our children. You are making America a stronger and more
    compassionate country, one child at a time. Congratulations and thank
    you.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:10 p.m. in the East Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Bishop Gregory J. Aymond of
    Austin, TX; Dorian Anderson, wife of Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of
    the Knights of Columbus; and Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, Archbishop of
    Washington, DC. He also 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).

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