[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book I)]
[February 13, 2004]
[Pages 213-219]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks in a Discussion on Parental Options and School Choice
February 13, 2004

    The President. Thank you, John. 
Listen, I'm thrilled to be here. I love to come to centers of 
excellence. This high school is a center of excellence. It is a school 
that--I was so pleased to hear that 98 percent of the senior class will 
be going on to higher education. That is a--I would say that's what's 
called dashing false expectations, is the best way to put it.
    See, I would suspect that prior to coming to a place that demanded 
high standards and high excellence, people would say, ``Well, these 
certain kids can't learn.'' See, there's an attitude in our society that 
maybe certain children can't learn, so therefore let's have a system 
that just shuffles them through. But not at this school. This school 
believes in the worth and value of every child, that every child can 
learn. And therefore, this school is not afraid to raise expectations 
and set glorious heights and demand excellence. And as a result, you've 
achieved a startling achievement: 98 percent of the high school seniors 
are going to higher education.
    I want to congratulate you and congratulate Jim, congratulate the teachers, congratulate the parents 
but, most importantly, congratulate the students. I appreciate you 
setting goals and making the right choices to achieve those goals.
    This is a fabulous high school. It's a great place to come and talk 
about the expectations of our society. It's a great place to come and 
talk about how we can encourage people to achieve new heights. It's a 
good way to--it's a good place to come and talk about how you challenge 
the status quo when the status quo is promoting mediocrity. So thank you 
for letting me come.
    I appreciate so very much the Secretary of Education being here. He's going to say some words in a minute. You 
know, when I was looking for a Secretary of Education, I wasn't 
interested in finding a theorist, somebody who talked about the 
philosophy of the education or talking about somebody--trying to find 
somebody who has actually done it. And he was the superintendent of 
schools in Harris County, which is Houston, Texas. He understands the 
philosophy behind the law that we just passed a year ago, a law I'm 
going to talk a little bit about. He's doing a great job. He's a good, 
sound man. I've known him for a long time. I'm proud that he's serving 
us. Thank you for coming, Rod. I'm glad you're here.
    I noticed Tom Davis and Rodney 
Frelinghuysen, who are with us today, 
Members of the United States Congress, who pushed for the initiative I'm 
going to

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describe. They're educational entrepreneurs. This is good legislation. 
I'm really proud of the work that you two gentleman have done on behalf 
of citizens and parents of this--of Washington, DC. It's really good 
legislation, and I want to thank you for your efforts.
    The Lieutenant Governor from Maryland, Michael Steele, is with us. He's a graduate of this fine high 
school. I appreciate you coming, Michael.
    I appreciate his Excellency Kevin Farrell for coming, and please give Cardinal McCarrick my very best. There's no finer person in 
our country than Cardinal McCarrick, and I'm proud to call him friend. 
He's a decent, decent man. The bishop said that he was in Kosovo, and--
spreading love and American good will. No better person to do so than 
Cardinal McCarrick, by the way.
    Patty Weitzel-O'Neill is the 
superintendent. Thank you, Patty, for your hospitality. Elfreda 
Massie is the interim superintendent of DC 
public schools. Elfreda, thank you for being here. I want to assure you 
that the message you're going to hear today is one that says that all 
systems can achieve excellence. I believe that. I think it's very 
important for us to work not only in DC but around the country for a 
public school system that promotes excellence for every single child. 
And I want to thank you for your leadership and your willingness to take 
on a tough assignment. I appreciate you coming.
    And I want to thank the chairman of the board of the school. One of 
the toughest jobs in America is to be on the school board. You get all 
the complaints and none of the glory. But thank you and the board 
members for being here.
    I, again, want to thank the students so very much. We passed an 
interesting piece of legislation a couple of years ago called the No 
Child Left Behind Act. I love the sound of that because that's what I 
believe society must strive for. No child should be left behind. That 
kind of says some child or children may be being left behind, doesn't 
it? If the admonition is ``no child left behind,'' maybe some are, and I 
think they have been. And one of the reasons I think they have is 
because I don't think we've set the bar high enough.
    This society of ours must challenge what I've called the low--the 
soft bigotry of low expectations. That means when you lower the bar, 
when you don't believe in the human potential of a person, you're likely 
to get lousy results. So I think we need to raise the bar everywhere, 
just like you've done here at Archbishop High, to challenge every child.
    Then I think you've got to measure. See, I don't know how you know 
whether or not you're achieving excellence if you're not willing to 
measure. I hear people say around the country, ``I don't like tests.'' 
Well, I didn't like them either--[laughter]--you know? But that's just 
the way it is. If you're going to try to figure out whether a child can 
learn to read and write and add and subtract early in life, you better 
measure. You better find out early, before it's too late.
    A society that doesn't want to leave any child behind is a society 
which says, ``Show me whether or not the curriculum is working. Show me 
whether or not the school is doing what it's supposed to be doing.'' I 
suspect Archbishop High is good because it not only sets the bar, but 
you're willing to measure. And when you find a child that needs help, 
you provide that child help.
    That ought to be the--that ought to be the paradigm, to use a fancy 
word, for every school district in America. We need to raise the bar. 
And so what we said here in Washington, DC, is we're willing to spend 
more money, particularly on Title I students. But for the first time, 
the Federal Government is asking the question, ``Can you show us whether 
or not we're achieving objectives?''

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    You see, we're tired of children being just shuffled through. It's 
time now to determine whether or not we're meeting the goal of, for 
example, every child reading at grade level by the third grade. That's 
not too much to ask, is it, for a society, to be able to read at grade 
level by third grade?
    So we set the goal. Now it's up to the school district to show us 
whether or not we're meeting the goal, and if not, there's extra money 
available to make sure that no child is left behind. But at some point 
in time, in order to challenge mediocrity where we find mediocrity, 
parents have to be given other options.
    And so the No Child Left Behind Act has got an interesting way of 
providing that for parents. We say, ``We measure. We post the scores. We 
look at results, and if the results don't measure up, a parent has got 
the ability to take extra money for tutorial work at a private 
institution or a public institution, or a parent can send a child to 
another public school.'' It's the beginnings of what's called school 
choice.
    But I didn't feel like, and Congress didn't feel like, and I know a 
lot of parents here in Washington didn't feel like that was enough. So 
we worked on a new initiative. It's an initiative that says, ``Here in 
Washington, we want all aspects of schools to work, so there's money 
available for the public school system.'' And I want to thank the 
Mayor, by the way, for his involvement 
in this project. And he said, ``As you're talking about school choice, 
make sure you don't forget the other schools as well, see.'' And so 
we've got money available to make sure public education can do the best 
it can possibly do. There's money available for the charter school 
movement, which provides parents interesting options.
    But there's also a new approach here in Washington that I want to 
talk about today. It's an approach that says there are school systems 
that are capable of meeting expectations, and when a parent has a child 
trapped in a school that won't teach and won't change, we've got to 
liberate that family, got to give them options. So the Congress wisely--
and I might say with administration nudging or insistence--said, ``Why 
don't we provide a $7,500 scholarship for parents whose children go to--
low-income parents whose children go to schools that aren't working, so 
that that scholarship can follow the child to a place like Archbishop 
Carroll High School.'' And there's $14 million, some of it for 
administrative purposes, but 90 percent of it is going to go to the 
families.
    This is an historic moment for education. It's the first time ever 
where the Federal Government has recognized that school choice is a 
viable alternative for parents. It's an opportunity for us to say to a 
mother or a dad, ``Here's your chance to achieve your expectation for 
your child.'' You see, a society that is responsible is one in which a 
mother and dad love their children with all their heart and all their 
soul. And a parent who does that wants the very best--the very best--for 
their children.
    And so this initiative is one that's the beginning of what I hope is 
change all across the country. It's the beginning of a go-by for other 
school districts and other communities. It says, ``Look, we want our 
public schools to succeed. We want them to do well, but we're going to 
raise the bar and raise expectations. And when we find children trapped 
in schools that will not change, parents must be given another viable 
option.'' And so here in DC, for the first time, hopefully starting this 
fall, parents will be given an option. When parents are dissatisfied, 
they will now have a chance to take scholarship money to send their 
child to a school of their choice.
    We've got some people here who understand what I'm talking about. 
We've got some grandmothers and moms and school-choice agitators. Well, 
I don't know, that's a little harsh, isn't it? Okay, advocates, 
advocates. Before we begin, I might ask the leader here about expectations. When a child comes to this school, 
tell me how

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you achieve 98 percent graduates going to college.

[John T. Butler III, president, Archbishop Carroll High School, made 
brief remarks.]

    The President. I appreciate the attitude. He's challenged the soft bigotry of low expectations by 
setting the bar high. You mentioned AP. You know, one of the things we 
need to do in America is to spread AP programs--that's called advanced 
placement programs. Those are high-quality, high-expectation, high-
achievement programs. Too often, though, in our communities, a parent 
will take a look and say, ``I don't--I'm not so sure I want to pay for 
the AP exam. My budget can't afford it.'' I think Government ought to 
help people pay for the AP exam. Low-income people ought not to fear 
their child taking an advanced placement exam because they can't afford 
the fee. That doesn't make any sense. Plus I think we need to have money 
available to help teachers teach the advanced placement program. It's 
one thing to aspire to advanced placement, but if you don't have a 
teacher who knows how to teach advanced placement, it's not going to 
become a reality.
    But I appreciate the AP program. AP programs work. The AP program is 
part of a challenging curriculum. And once you pass the AP, you're--
there's very little you can't accomplish, by the way. It means that 
you've excelled. I know you've got a lot of AP students here.
    Mr. Butler. We do. The faculty are 
really important in that regard as well. We are fortunate to have 
dedicated faculty who sacrifice a lot, and they give long hours to 
ensure that students are getting what they need. And they go beyond the 
call of duty, frankly, on a daily basis to ensure that they're providing 
support--even to today, we have students who are at Harvard, as a matter 
of fact. Our debate team is at Harvard.
    The President. Oh, I don't know what's so good about that. 
[Laughter] But----
    Mr. Butler. Well, I understand that 
you've spent some time there as well.
    The President. Well, I mean, I thought he was going to say Yale. But you know, that's all right. 
No, that's good, they're at Harvard. Yes. [Laughter]
    Mr. Butler. It is.
    The President. Yes, I went there, okay--much to the shock of some of 
the press corps. [Laughter]
    Mr. Butler. But I think giving our 
young people opportunities to get out of the building and get to 
universities in this community but outside of this community as well 
really helps to reinforce that. It also helps, too, to have alums such 
as Michael Steele--I'm glad he's with us today--to hold up as an example 
of what happens when you work hard.
    The President. Michael, good. Listen, 
Rod, why don't you share some thoughts. 
Rod took--I told you, he took on a tough assignment. And I will tell you 
the children in Houston, Texas, benefited from his leadership. And he's 
a good, solid citizen.

[Secretary of Education Roderick R. Paige made brief remarks.]

    The President. I appreciate you--thank you, Mr. Secretary.
    Local control of schools is important because innovation oftentimes 
takes place in spite of government. Archbishop Carroll, obviously, has 
been able to survive without government telling them what to do, and 
you're doing what's right.
    But the other thing about local control of schools is the more power 
there is at the local level, the more parents have an opportunity to 
change things. And so one of the key components of the No Child Left 
Behind Act is that it's up to you to chart the path to excellence. We 
just want to know, see? That's all we're asking.
    The Federal Government is finally saying, ``Show us whether or not 
you're achieving the objectives, but you figure it out.'' And it's 
amazing what happens when parents decide to get involved. A lot of 
parents

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think everything is fine with their school until the test scores show 
up, until there's comparison, until they take a look at--across 
boundaries. Say, in DC, I bet there's a lot of folks wondering why my 
school doesn't have a 98 percent college attendance with the seniors. So 
information is important, but empowering parents is important.
    Virginia Walden-Ford is with us 
today. She is--she is a great citizen in that she's willing to seize the 
moment to try to effect change. She's a tireless worker on behalf of 
children and parents. She's somebody who has made a difference. I want 
to welcome you here, Virginia. Tell us about your family. Tell us about 
what you're doing. Tell us about how you got involved with the Parents 
for Choice. She's the executive director, by the way, for Parents for 
Choice in DC movement.

[Virginia Walden-Ford, executive director, D.C. Parents for School 
Choice, made brief remarks.]

    The President. One person can make a difference. Now 
Virginia has got to make sure that the 
parents who want to learn how the program works can find a resource. I 
know you will. There's--this--for example, this might stimulate a few 
phone calls. I suspect there's going to be some mothers and dads wanting 
to contact you to find out how the program works. How do you apply for 
the $7,500 scholarship? What does it take to be eligible? And how do we 
get the scholarship money out? We'll help. I know you got an advertising 
campaign getting ready to go.
    Mrs. Walden-Ford. We do. We have a 
bus campaign that begins on Monday. This past week, we spent time 
sending out forms, just asking parents to call for information, 
thousands of them. So we are in the field. We are activists. And I'm not 
embarrassed about being called----
    The President. I said ``agitators,'' don't change it. [Laughter]
    Mrs. Walden-Ford. Oh, okay--I'm not 
embarrassed. Well, I was----
    The President. That's not a bad word.
    Mrs. Walden-Ford. Look, look, 
Congressman Davis, I think I was a little bit of an agitator too. 
[Laughter] But when you believe in something, you fight for it, or you 
raise your voice and get on--and I know we got on Congressman's nerves. 
I know we did. But that was okay because we got it done.
    The President. I do too, occasionally, myself, you know? [Laughter]

[Mrs. Walden-Ford made further remarks.]

    The President. Good job, thank you. Catherine Hill is with us today. Catherine is raising a niece, a nephew, 
and two grandsons. She is a--thank you for being here, Catherine. Would 
you mind sharing with us some of your thoughts?

[Catherine L. Hill, aunt and grandparent of DC students, made brief 
remarks.]

    The President. Catherine made a 
decision early on that one of your nephews--was it your nephew or 
grandson?--went to school in Maryland. So that's what we call school 
choice. [Laughter] In other words, she said, ``I'm not satisfied. I've 
got high expectations for my loved one.'' And evidently, the 
expectations weren't being met, so you made a decision.
    Now, what we need to do is make sure the decision is closer to home. 
She's a resident in Washington, DC. She 
lives here. It's important that decisions be made more readily available 
for parents.
    I want to say something that Rod said, 
and it's very important. As you make those decisions, somebody might get 
the message and say, ``Wait, we're not doing something right. We must 
earn Catherine's support by raising 
expectations.'' Why--somebody ought to be asking the question, why is 
Catherine making a unbelievably tough call to drive hours to another 
State or out of this District to a State? And hopefully that causes 
somebody to say, ``Maybe we're not

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doing something right. Maybe we ought to work harder to win the 
confidence of Catherine Hill or the Catherine Hills of the world.'' 
That's what Rod was talking about. You see, when a parent makes the 
decision, votes to move a child, hopefully that will cause the response 
to be, we've got to do something better or something different. The 
customer is Catherine Hill and her children.
    And so I want to thank you for your story. More importantly, I want 
to thank you for setting such an unbelievable example. Imagine 
Catherine raising a niece, nephew, and two 
grandsons. That in itself is an overpowering job. And yet at the same 
time, you keep that clear vision about what is best, and I'm going to 
appreciate your example.
    Ms. Hill. And I also want to say that 
he graduated in June of 2003. So that's a blessing.
    The President. That is.
    Elizabeth Stallans is with us. I 
oftentimes tell people the toughest job in America is being a single 
mom. That's the hardest work in our country. And it's important for our 
school systems to make that job easier, not harder. And I appreciate you 
coming, Elizabeth. Thank you for being here. We look forward to hearing 
your story.

[Elizabeth Stallans, parent of a DC student, made brief remarks.]

    The President. Thank you, Elizabeth. 
Very good. Thank you, Elizabeth. There's strong testimony. Thank you 
both.
    Listen, John, thanks for having us. 
I've got to say something about the Catholic schools in America. The 
Catholic school system provides an incredibly important service in our 
country. They serve as a model. They also take on a lot of students that 
are the so-called hard-to-educate but always do a good job. They're 
willing to help with the financially disadvantaged parent. Catholic 
schools are an incredibly important part of the fabric of our country, 
and I want to thank the educators who are here. I want to thank you for 
the service you provide.
    I know you share with me a deep desire that all schools do well, all 
school systems achieve the national objective, which is excellence for 
every child, regardless of their background. There's no doubt in my mind 
we can achieve it. In order to achieve it, you've got to have the right 
mindset, and you must be willing to challenge the status quo when it's 
failing. This society must be willing to never accept mediocrity when it 
comes to the education of our children.
    You know, the President has got a pretty big microphone. I've got a 
chance to spotlight success. And by coming here today, I am spotlighting 
success, this success that we want to be a success all over the District 
of Columbia. We want people to be able to compete with you, 
John.
    Mr. Butler. I look forward to that.
    The President. Yes, sir. I know you do, because you love children--
--
    Mr. Butler. I do.
    The President. ----from the bottom of your heart. So do I. Thank you 
all for coming. I want to wish the seniors all the very best. I want to 
congratulate you. Would the seniors stand up, please?
    Thank you for letting us come. Thank you for letting me come. 
Remember, your senior year isn't over until you graduate. [Laughter] 
Good luck in college. Good luck whatever you decide to do.
    May God bless you. May God bless this high school. And may God 
continue to bless our great country.

Note: The President spoke at 1:49 p.m. at Archbishop Carroll High 
School. In his remarks, he referred to James Mumford, principal, 
Archbishop Carroll High School; Bishop Kevin J. Farrell, Auxiliary 
Bishop of Washington; Theodore E. Cardinal McCarrick, Archbishop of 
Washington; Patricia Weitzel-O'Neill, superintendent of schools, 
Archdiocese of Washington; Lavern

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Chatman, chair, Board of Trustees, Archbishop Carroll High School; and 
Mayor Anthony A. Williams of the District of Columbia.