[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 9 (Monday, March 5, 2001)]
[Pages 374-378]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Leadership Forum in North Little Rock

March 1, 2001

    The President. Well, thank you very much, Kaye. First, a good school 
depends upon the leadership of a good principal, and it didn't take me 
long to recognize, one, this is a good school, and two, Kaye Lowe is a 
good principal.
    I want to thank our panelists for coming. It's--I really love going 
to schools and see the enthusiasm of the teachers and the bright eyes of 
the students. That certainly was the case here today. Before I begin, I 
want to thank the leadership of the State of Arkansas for coming, two 
fine United States Senators: Senator Hutchinson and Senator Lincoln. I 
want to thank Vic Snyder for being here, as well.
    Governor, I've got a message for you. And Lieutenant Governor, you 
requested that the FEMA look at the ability--possibility of the 
Government funding 100 percent of the costs of the debris cleanup here, 
as a result of those ice storms that hit Arkansas. Today, sir, I've got 
a letter for you--funding to provide 100 percent funding from the 
Federal Government for the State of Arkansas.
    I've got also a--well, a very positive budget message, too, for the 
people of Arkansas. First, it starts with setting priorities. I want to 
spend a little time, and then I promise to let other people talk. But 
it's important for America to hear that the budget I submitted is one 
that is a realistic and reasonable budget, one that sets priorities.
    One thing that our governments must do is set priorities. Without 
priorities, there is haphazard spending. The job of a President is to 
set clear priorities. A priority of mine is public education. It was a 
priority of mine as the government of the State of Texas. It is a 
priority of mine as the President. I understand, however, that even 
though it is a priority, that does not mean Washington, DC, should run 
public schools. And so I look forward to working with Members of the 
Congress to pass power out of Washington to provide flexibility so local 
jurisdictions can help design the strategies necessary to make sure that 
every child in America gets educated.
    Secondly, we are spending more money, and that's important. However, 
there needs to be a results-oriented approach to the expenditure of 
money, whether it be Federal money, State money, or local money. The 
cornerstone for reform, the whole concept of making sure no child gets 
left behind, rests upon strong accountability systems.
    One reason we came to this school is because this is a school that's 
not afraid to measure. It's a school, by the way, that not only measures 
but does not view a measurement system as a way to punish somebody. They 
view a measurement system as a way to diagnose problems early and 
correct them early, so that no child is left behind.

[[Page 375]]

    And so we'll have a wide-ranging discussion here about education. 
And it's an important discussion to have. But I want to put it in the 
context of an overall budget.
    Part of the priorities of a budget is to make sure we can keep the 
peace. So I have prioritized paying our soldiers more money in order to 
boost morale. I have prioritized setting aside all the money designed 
for Social Security to only be spent on Social Security. I'm confident 
that both Republicans and Democrats will hear that cry, that the days of 
using Social Security monies to pay other programs has ended.
    The Medicare budget doubles. And that's important, but we also have 
got to have Medicare reform so that seniors have got options from which 
to choose. All options will include prescription drugs. So the budget 
sets priories. Medicare is a priority. Social Security is a priority. 
Education is a priority. The defense of our people are priorities. 
Everybody else is going to have different priorities, trust me. I heard 
some last night from the able Senator. But that's how the system works. 
My job is to set clear priorities, and I have done so.
    A second priority is to pay down debt. There's a lot of discussion 
about debt at the national level, and we ought to pay down debt. This 
budget pays down $2 trillion of debt. Now people say, ``Why don't you 
pay down more?'' Well, it doesn't make any sense to pay off bonds before 
they retire, before they come due. It's a reasonable approach; it makes 
eminent sense to do it this way.
    We also have got money set aside for contingencies. There's a 
trillion dollars over 10 years for contingencies. That's a smart thing 
to do, and we've done that. A contingency--somebody says, ``What do you 
mean by contingencies?'' Well, emergencies are contingencies. We may 
have another bad situation for our agricultural sector, in which case we 
need contingency money. And so there's a trillion set aside for 
contingencies.
    And so we've set priorities. And we'll argue about whether or not 
the priorities are the right priorities. Some of them are going to say 
up there, ``Well, you know, he didn't put enough in for education,'' or 
``He didn't put enough in for the military, didn't put enough in for 
here or there.'' Those are sometimes--are the people who aren't 
responsible for viewing the budget in it's entirety. And that's okay. 
Everybody's entitled to an opinion. And there's a lot of them in 
Washington.
    But I just want to assure you that the budget I submit, it sets 
priorities, pays down debt, has a contingency fund, and there is still 
money left over. And I'm going to argue vociferously, any time anybody 
will listen, that at this point in our Nation's history, the wise thing 
to do with that money is to remember who paid it in the first place, and 
let the payers keep the money.
    I believe that tax relief ought to go to everybody who pays taxes. I 
don't like the idea of the Federal Government saying, ``Well, we're 
going to pick and choose who the winners are. You're targeted in, and 
you're targeted out.'' To me that is not fair, and that's not the right 
way to approach tax relief. If you pay taxes, you ought to get relief. I 
do agree with the critics who believe that the people at the bottom end 
of the economic ladder ought to get the highest percentage of relief. 
And my plan does that. It cuts all taxes for everybody.
    We drop all rates, including the bottom rate from 15 percent to 10 
percent and increase the child credit from $500 to $1,000 per child. We 
lessen the harsh effects of the marriage penalty, and we eliminate the 
death tax. That's the basic plan. Stephen Benson is here, a parent of 
two and proud husband of Shelia, for a reason, because he's a taxpayer. 
He pays $4,620 in Federal income taxes. Under this plan, in which 
everybody who pays taxes will get relief, he saves $1,710. That's above 
the national average for a family of four, which is $1,600.
    Now you will hear people say, ``Well, that's not much money.'' Well, 
that's a lot of money if you're paying higher energy bills, and folks 
who work across America are paying higher energy bills. It's a lot of 
money if you've got consumer debt. And there's a lot of discussion about 
national debt, and there should be. And as I mentioned, we're doing the 
best we can to pay $2 trillion of national debt.
    But Washington, DC, folks need to understand, there's a lot of 
people who have got consumer debt, as well. And the idea of substantial 
tax relief after we meet priorities will help people like the Bensons 
manage their

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own debt. It's one thing to be focused on the national balance sheet. 
The President and the Congress need to pay attention to the people's 
individual balance sheets, and that's exactly what this tax relief plan 
does.
    So I appreciate so very much the opportunity to not only make the 
case for--education reform. And this school gets it. And evidently you 
get it, too, Governor, because the idea of insisting upon accountability 
as the cornerstone for reform makes eminent sense. We'll argue about the 
remedies for failure, we'll argue about what the consequences for 
failure are, but the truth of the matter is, the whole reform system 
begins by measuring, by holding people accountable, by holding up 
success so that we know whether or not the reading curriculum that has 
been put in place here works. The principal assures me it does. And the 
reason she's able to say so with certainty is because you measure. And 
therefore, another school that may have trouble cheating--treating their 
children how to read will be able to say, ``Well, let's see how they do 
it here.'' We can prove that it works.
    And so thanks for giving me a chance to come and also talk about the 
budget. It's going to be on people's minds for a while, until it gets 
passed. I will assure you, I'm going to try and keep it on people's 
minds.

[At this point, the forum began.]

    The President. I appreciate that. There's a woman--a reading czarina 
in Houston, named Phyllis Hunter. She said one of the most profound 
thoughts of anybody in recent history, I think. She said, ``Reading is 
the new civil right.'' That's a pretty powerful statement. And it sounds 
like you all are right on track here. I want to thank you very much for 
what you're doing.
    I also want a--another piece of public policy I'm going to work with 
the Congress on is to make sure that Head Start is--incorporates a 
reading curriculum that will do precisely what you said. It will teach--
give children the necessary tools to become good readers when they make 
it into K or first grade.
    Thank you very much for what you're doing here.

[The forum continued.]

    Raymond Simon. Mr. President, one thing that I worry about on your 
program is the fact that it's based on common sense. [Laughter] So I 
think you're in for a hard road.
    The President. You may be right. [Laughter]
    Mr. Simon. But that having been said, the commonsense approach, we 
believe, mirrors exactly what we're about in Arkansas, flexibility at 
the local level. We've insisted in our State, through an initiative 
called Smart Start, which you may have heard of----
    The President. I have heard of that.
    Mr. Simon. Our K-four initiative and Smart Step that we've advanced 
in the fifth through the eighth grade, we've made standards and 
accountability non-negotiable. But we have made negotiable how the 
schools get there.
    Your program does exactly that. I credit you, and I applaud you for 
your interest in parents and strengthening the family, in character 
education. Our teachers oftentimes feel unsupported at that level, and 
your programs are going to help them get that support they need.
    The President. Thank you.
    Mr. Simon. We do believe that flexibility in spending is almost as 
important as more money. Certainly, we can use additional funds, but 
more important to us is flexibility. We've been able to do much with 
Smart Start in our State, not with huge amounts of money but with 
refocusing on what's important.
    The President. You bet. Well, I appreciate that. I want you all to 
know that when we talk about accountability in Washington, at least when 
I do, the Federal Government will not design and administer a national 
test. The people of Arkansas are plenty capable about designing your own 
test and your own accountability system.
    We'll hear the debates, and I can already hear them already, 
starting on the floor of the House and the Senate about how Washington, 
DC, insisting that schools measure in return for money will mean that 
it's going to undermine local control of schools. As they say in 
Arkansas, that is hogwash. [Laughter] That's not reality--that's not 
reality. It's just

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like saying, ``Accountability systems are racist.'' What's racist is not 
to have an accountability system, because what generally happens is, 
inner-city kids just get moved through. It's so much easier to quit on a 
child, so much easier.
    And what an accountability system do, designed at the local level, 
they say, ``We're not going to leave any child behind, because we're 
going to measure early. And when we find failure, we're going to do 
something about it. We're not going to accept failure in American 
schools.'' And so thank you very much for your comments. And guess what, 
common sense will prevail. [Laughter]
    Principal Kaye Lowe. Mr. Benson, we'd like to hear from you as a 
parent.
    Stephen Benson. Well, I was really excited about the tax cut.
    The President. Say that again, Mr. Benson, as loud as you can. 
[Laughter]
    Mr. Benson. Well, that money that I save--my priority is education 
for my children. I was going to put that money toward education, but I 
could put it towards something else because I know here at Lakewood 
Elementary, Ms. Lowe and her staff are doing great things to make sure 
my son has a quality education. And with the spending that you are 
proposing for the school, I'm just excited to see what Ms. Lowe and her 
staff has in store for my son for a quality education.
    And as far as testing and standards, I have to agree with you 
wholeheartedly on that. My daughter and I have a conference once a week 
to measure her standard at her school in North Little Rock High School.
    The President. Oh really? I was there.
    Mr. Benson. So we emphasize standards, making sure we stay on the 
right level in our household.
    The President. Well, that's great.
    Mr. Benson. I'm really excited about all that you're doing.
    The President. Thank you, sir. One thing about measuring--what you 
said just triggered me. You have meetings with the school officials, 
based upon accountability. It is so important for us to not only measure 
but, to use a fancy word, disaggregate results, so that we're able to 
begin to individualize the systems around the country.
    And that's going to be an incredibly important component of the 
reform, that we say each child matters, and therefore, the 
accountability systems must reflect the performance of each child, not 
kind of groups, collections of children. And the systems will then begin 
to emerge, to individualize education.
    Today we went to a computer lab, where the reading programs were 
constantly adjusting based upon the skill level of the participant on 
the computer. It's the forerunner of the individualization of education, 
the likes of which a lot of us have not imagined here before. It begins 
with an accountability system that measures on a per-child basis, so 
when we get up to Washington, we cannot let the whole concept of 
accountability be undermined by not--by a system that does not measure 
on an individual child basis. And that's exactly what I'm going to 
insist happens.

[The forum continued.]

    The President. You know, there's a lot of debate about English as a 
second language programs. And my attitude--obviously in the State of 
Texas we have a lot of people whose parents don't speak English as a 
first language. And my attitude was this. First of all, in our Nation, 
we must support what's called English Plus. English is the language of 
the country, plus we respect other languages. Secondly, that the best 
way to determine whether bilingual programs or English second language 
programs are working, is to measure.
    There's a huge debate about immersion versus programs as Puentas 
para Ingles--Bridges to English. And the best way to determine what 
works is to say, ``Here is the goal,'' which is English proficiency. And 
let's measure the systems that work. That helps take the politics out of 
the debate about teaching children English. The goal is English. That's 
how people are going to get ahead in America, and the best way to 
approach the subject is to say, ``Let's measure.'' Let's be rational 
about how we approach these programs. And I appreciate you're--where 
were you raised in Texas?

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    Teacher Maria Touchstone. I was raised in Galena Park, right outside 
of Houston.
    The President. Yes, the Fighting Yellow Jackets.
    Ms. Touchstone. Yes. [Laughter]

[The forum continued.]

    The President. Well, I appreciate that. The superintendent's right, 
that the reading initiative ought to help and make sure kids get to the 
appropriate level early in their careers. I will urge Congress to 
provide flexibility to States to be able to use some of the prescriptive 
Federal dollars to apply to IDEA, if that's what the State chooses to 
do.
    There's $1.6 billion of so-called construction money, the rules of 
which have not been written. I think one of the things that would make 
sense is to increase the amount of that money from 25 percent to 100 
percent, to allow the States to use the IDEA--that money for IDEA, if 
that is what's best in the interest of the budget of the State.
    I know the Congress sometimes doesn't like to provide flexibility 
for folks at the State level. But here is a good way--now, it's going to 
be hard to achieve huge funding for IDEA. But I--and one way to do so is 
to take some of the prescriptive programs and allow flexibility at the 
State level. And I'm going to work with Congress, hopefully that they'll 
see the wisdom of that way, and hear--and by the way, the more money 
that goes into IDEA, the more local property tax money is freed up to 
meet specific construction needs, if need be.
    And so I think one of the ways to try to get the number up toward 
the 40 percent that was promised by the Federal Government years ago, is 
to be--is to have a commonsense approach, Raymond, and to give 
flexibility--well, I appreciate that, Jim. The reading program will 
help. It will help make sure the children get a good start on their 
education early. And so will the Head Start Program, and the Head Start 
initiative.
    Principal Lowe. Mr. President, I'm sad to say that we're out of 
time. But again, I want to thank you so much for coming to Lakewood 
Elementary, and discussing----
    The President. It's a huge honor to be here. Thank you all for being 
here.

Note: The President spoke at 9:40 a.m. in the cafetorium at Lakewood 
Elementary School. In his remarks, he referred to Representative Vic 
Snyder; Gov. Mike Huckabee and Lt. Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller of 
Arkansas; and James Smith, school superintendent, North Little Rock 
School District. The President also referred to IDEA, the Individuals 
with Disabilities Education Act. A tape was not available for 
verification of the content of these remarks.