[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 39 (Monday, October 4, 1999)]
[Pages 1827-1829]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at Sophie B. Wright Middle School in New Orleans, Louisiana

September 27, 1999

    Thank you. Thank you so very much. My good friend Congressman 
Jefferson--I want to say more about him in a minute--and to his 
wonderful wife, Dr. Andrea Jefferson. Senator Landrieu, thank you for 
your friendship and support. Mayor Morial, you were very kind to talk 
about the role that we play in helping to lower the crime rate in New 
Orleans, but it never could have happened if we hadn't had a visionary 
mayor down here who made the most of the policies that were there.
    Colonel Davis, thank you for taking on the challenge of educating 
the children of this parish. To Gail Glapion, thank you very much for 
what you said. And Scott Shea, thank you. And Brenda Mitchell, the 
leader of our teachers, and especially to our principal, Charlotte 
Matthew, thank you for leading this school and for making me feel so 
welcome here.
    And I want to say a special word of thanks to all the people of 
Louisiana. As Congressman Jefferson said, in 1992 and 1996 you gave your 
electoral votes to Bill Clinton and

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Al Gore, and we are profoundly grateful, and we've tried to be worthy of 
them.
    I also want to thank the McDonogh High School Band. I want to thank 
them for being here. The rest of you are hot--they're in those band 
uniforms. I used to be in one, and I know how hot they are. And I want 
to thank them for being here.
    One other thing I'd like to say about this school, I want to 
compliment this school on your school uniforms. I like them, and I'm 
glad so many schools in this parish have them. I've been trying to 
promote them all across America for years now, and I thank you for that.
    You know, folks, I may have visited more schools than any President 
in history. I've certainly tried to. And I have never met a child that 
couldn't learn or a school that couldn't do better and be turned around. 
There is a student standing behind me, and I don't want to embarrass 
her, but I want her to raise her hand--named Nonya Grove, who scored at 
the 95th percentile on the science portion of the Iowa basic skills 
test. Good for you.
    Let me tell you, too, I have been in schools in all kinds of 
places--I've been in schools--I went to a junior high school in Chicago 
in a neighborhood with the highest murder rate in the city, which was, 
therefore, the highest murder rate in the State. But there was no 
violence in the school; there were no weapons; there were no problems. 
Hundreds of parents came to the school every week, and there were no 
dropouts, and almost all the kids went on to college. Why? Because they 
had a good plan, and they worked it hard. And they believe that all kids 
could learn.
    Now, the Federal Government does have an obligation to help you. And 
I want to thank Senator Landrieu and Congressman Jefferson and Senator 
Breaux and the others in your delegation and our party who have 
supported what we have tried to do to help the States, to help the 
States adopt higher academic standards in the Goals 2000 program, to 
help them crack down on drugs and gangs and violence. And last fall we 
fought to get a downpayment on 100,000 new highly trained teachers to 
lower those class sizes in the early grades, as Congressman Jefferson 
wants to do.
    Already 108 more teachers have been hired in this parish. And your 
parish got $12 million under the E-rate program that the Vice President 
developed--have cut the cost of hooking up every classroom in America to 
the Internet by the year 2000.
    Now, what we've done in education is a part of an overall strategy 
to bring America back. We balanced the Federal budget and have a surplus 
of $115 billion this year.
    When I took office, we were deep in debt 7 years ago, and we had 
high unemployment rates, high welfare rates, and high crime rates. We 
were committed to economic reform, welfare reform, reform of the 
criminal justice system, and education reform. Now we've got the longest 
peacetime expansion in history, over 19 million new jobs, the lowest 
unemployment rate in 29 years, the lowest welfare rolls in 32 years, the 
lowest crime rate in 26 years, the first time we've had two budget 
surpluses in a row in 42 years, when I was young enough to be in this 
school.
    The question is, what are we going to do with our prosperity? You 
know we've got a lot of challenges out there. And you know as well as I 
do that the modern economy requires more education from all people. 
We've got the largest student population in the history of our country, 
and we will never do what America ought to do until every child in 
America can live up to his or her God-given potential.
    Last week the congressional majority in the other party in the House 
unveiled an education budget that was $3 billion below what I asked 
for--no money to finish hiring the 100,000 teachers; no money to help 
modernize or build 6,000 schools--I know you need that now. We need--it 
can be hot out here, but every school ought to be air-conditioned in 
Louisiana, and I know they're not. It would deny access to hundreds of 
thousands of children to after-school programs, so important to 
improving learning and keeping that juvenile crime rate down--keep kids 
in school, off the street, and out of trouble--that's very important--
and many other programs.
    Now, Congressman Jefferson had it right. We have to demand more of 
our schools and

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invest more in them. Our balanced budget calls for spending $200 million 
to help schools turn around if they're not performing well or shut them 
down and let parents choose other public schools if they don't turn 
around. But it is wrong to blame the kid, and it's wrong not to give the 
schools a chance. And we know these schools can be turned around if they 
have the resources and a good plan and they work the plan.
    We've got to do better in Washington, and that's my job. But I was, 
12 years, Governor of your neighboring State of Arkansas. And I know--I 
know--how important education is. You know, as President, the future of 
our children is the most important thing of all. But I have to pursue it 
in many ways. I have to preserve the national security. I have to work 
on making sure that we have Social Security and Medicare in a solid way, 
so that when the baby boomers retire, it doesn't bankrupt our kids and 
their ability to raise our grandkids. But if you're the Governor, the 
most important thing you ever have to do is see to the education of our 
children.
    Now, here's why I know Bill Jefferson cares about that. He was too 
modest to say this, but he was born very poor in a small town, and his 
parents and his teachers and his school helped him work his way all the 
way to Harvard University. Then he married a wonderful woman who is even 
smarter than he is. [Laughter] And they have had five magnificent 
daughters who have all had brilliant academic careers, four of them 
already gone through Harvard. Why? Because they had a good plan. They 
believed in education. They had parents and teachers and schools and 
students, and they worked at it steadily.
    So, no matter what I do as your President, you still need in 
Louisiana a Governor you know will fight for more teachers, for better 
teacher training, for better pay, for smaller classes, and for modern 
school buildings, for high standards and strong support.
    I can tell you, he's fought with me every step of the way in 
Washington. When we had to vote in 1993 to bring down the deficit and 
increase spending in education, and I said we had to balance the budget, 
but we weren't going to cut education. We were going to do more, all the 
members of the other party were against me. The bill carried by one 
vote. To a major extent, the economic prosperity America enjoys today 
belongs to one vote, and it carried in one vote. If Bill Jefferson 
hadn't been in Congress and voted the right way, we might not be 
standing here today.
    So let me say, I don't want him to leave, especially while I'm still 
in Washington. [Laughter] But he really can do even more good in Baton 
Rouge. And remember, twice he was voted the Outstanding State Legislator 
in the Louisiana Legislature. He's fought for you in Washington; he'll 
fight for you and our children's education in Baton Rouge. And I am 
honored to be here with him today at this wonderful school.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:45 a.m. in the courtyard. In his 
remarks, he referred to Mayor Marc H. Morial of New Orleans; Col. A.G. 
Davis, USMC, (Ret.), New Orleans superintendent of schools; Gail M. 
Glapion, president, and Scott P. Shea, vice president, New Orleans 
Parish School Board; Brenda Mitchell, president, United Teachers of New 
Orleans, and Representative
Jefferson's daughters: Jamila, Jalila, Jelani, Nailah, and Akilah.