    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 23 (Monday, June 12, 2000)]
    [Pages 1273-1274]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    The President's Radio Address

    June 3, 2000

        Good morning. Earlier this week, I attended a summit with European
    leaders to focus on the opportunities and challenges of the new economy.
    One of those changes, clearly, is bridging the digital divide and
    helping all our people make the most of technology's promise. Today I
    want to talk with you about new steps our administration is taking to
    help America's students and teachers do just that.
        I'm proud of the progress we've made over the last 7 years to expand
    access to technology in our schools. In 1994 only 35 percent of our
    schools had any Internet connection; today, 95 percent do. In 1994 only
    3 percent of our classrooms were actually connected to the Internet.
    Today, thanks in large part to the E-rate program championed by Vice
    President Gore, 95 percent of our schools, as I said, are wired, but now
    63 percent of our classrooms have an Internet connection. That's a very
    big step. But there's

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    more to do, and it's about more than computers and connections.
        Access is important, but it's only a means to an end. The ultimate
    purpose of computers in the classroom is to boost student performance
    and help children learn. That can only happen if teachers have the best
    training to make the most of this technology.
        Today, two out of three teachers with access to a computer say they
    don't feel well-prepared to use it in class. We owe it to America's
    children to help their teachers become as comfortable with a computer as
    they are with a chalkboard. And we must start early. With rising student
    enrollment and teacher retirements, America will need more than 2
    million new teachers over the next 10 years. We have to make sure every
    one of them can use a computer to help students meet high standards.
    We're taking steps to do that.
        Earlier this year, the deans of over 200 colleges of education
    committed to work with our administration to meet this goal. Today I'm
    announcing $128 million in new, 3-year technology grants to help
    tomorrow's teachers prepare 21st century students. We're awarding 122
    grants to teacher colleges and other partners in every region of the
    country. These resources will train new teachers to use technology to
    improve student achievement.
        A grant to Western Michigan University, for example, will be used to
    build partnerships with business leaders and local school districts to
    help future teachers use technology in the classroom. San Diego State
    University is receiving a grant to develop advanced technologies to
    improve student reading and teach educators throughout California.
        Combined with past grants, today's awards will help train as many as
    600,000 new teachers nationwide. My budget for the coming year doubles
    our investment in quality technology training to reach a million
    teachers by 2004.
        Unfortunately, so far, Congress has failed to provide the resources
    to meet that target. The House budget would deny hundreds of thousands
    of future teachers the training they need to use technology to help
    students meet challenging academic standards. Their budget also denies
    the funding I requested to create up to a thousand new community
    technology centers to help young people and adults gain critical
    technology skills.
        In too many ways, the education budget making its way through
    Congress simply doesn't make the grade. It invests too little in our
    schools and demands too little from them. In order to pay for large and
    irresponsible tax breaks, it fails to address some of our schools most
    pressing needs, from increasing accountability to building and
    modernizing schools to improving teacher quality and reducing class
    size.
        In this time of unprecedented prosperity, there is no reason to
    shortchange our children and our schools. So I ask Congress again to
    pass a budget that reflects our values and puts education first, a
    budget that strengthens accountability and helps turn around low
    performing schools, reduces class size and increases after-school
    opportunities, closes the digital divide and opens doors to help
    disadvantaged children gear up for college, rebuilds crumbling schools
    and boosts teacher quality.
        If Congress sends me a budget that fails that test, I'll have to
    veto it. But I hope Congress will work with me to pass balanced,
    responsible budget increases to invest in our children and their future.
    Instead of widening the divide in technology and education, we can widen
    the circle of opportunity for every American. And now is the time to get
    this done.
        Thanks for listening.

     Note:  The address was recorded at 3 p.m. on June 2 in the Presidential
    Suite at the Intercon Hotel in Berlin, Germany, for broadcast at 10:06
    a.m. on June 3. The transcript was made available by the Office of the
    Press Secretary on June 2 but was embargoed for release until the
    broadcast.