[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 42 (Monday, October 19, 1998)]
[Page 2030]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Congressional Action on the ``Charter School Expansion Act 
of 1998''

October 10, 1998

    I am very pleased that the Congress has approved the ``Charter 
School Expansion Act of 1998.'' This law will ensure that the charter 
schools movement will give parents and students more choices, better 
schools, and greater accountability for results. When I was elected 
President, there was only one charter school in the Nation. With help 
from the charter school initiative I proposed in 1993 and signed into 
law in 1994, there are now more than 1,000 charter schools serving more 
than 200,000 students across the Nation. This new measure is an 
important step toward reaching my goal of creating 3,000 high-quality 
public charter schools that will educate more than half a million 
students.
    There is more to do to create the renaissance in public education 
our Nation needs and our students deserve. Congress must put progress 
ahead of partisanship and strengthen our public schools by enacting 
legislation that will help communities hire 100,000 well-trained 
teachers to reduce class size in the early grades, modernize or build 
5,000 schools, strengthen early literacy programs, provide quality 
after-school programs, and put in place high national standards and 
tests in the basic skills of reading and math.