[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 37 (Monday, September 15, 2003)]
[Pages 1178-1183]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at Hyde Park Elementary in Jacksonville

September 9, 2003

    Thanks for coming. Please be seated--unless you don't have a chair. 
[Laughter] Thanks for coming, and thanks for letting me come. We're 
thrilled to be at Hyde Park Elementary School. I'm here to talk about 
some recent reforms we've had in education, the Federal role in 
education. I want to describe to you the No Child Left Behind Act and 
the principles behind the No Child Left Behind Act, and why I believe 
the No Child Left Behind Act, in combination with the efforts of 
Governors like Jeb Bush and fantastic teachers who are in this room, are 
going to help America realize its full promise.
    Before I begin--you may recall, I was a Governor as well, and I 
spent a lot of time on making sure the Texas schools were as good as 
they could possibly be. I learned some pretty interesting lessons as the 
Governor. And one lesson is that in order for schools to succeed, you'd 
better have you a good principal. Dr. Nancy Miller is a really good 
principal. She believes in the worth of each individual. She believes in 
high standards. She believes in empowering her teachers to do the right 
thing. She's constantly willing to challenge the status quo if the 
status quo is not good enough.
    We're at Hyde Park Elementary School because it is one of the many 
successful schools in Jacksonville and across the State of Florida. And 
I want to thank Dr. Miller, and I want to thank the teachers of Hyde 
Park for not only listening to your hearts but using logic and sound 
thought to challenge mediocrity wherever you might find it. You know, 
one of the inherent principles in the No Child Left Behind Act is that 
we believe every child can learn, and we want to continue to raise the 
bar, continue to raise expectations so that every child does learn.
    I appreciate so much Secretary Rod Paige for joining us. I like to 
remind people that he actually knows what he's talking about when it 
comes to public schools because he was the superintendent of public 
schools in Houston, Texas. It's a pretty tough assignment, I want you to 
know. It's not an easy school district to govern. But he did a heck of a 
good job. He too believes every child can learn. He believes in setting 
high standards. He believes in asking the question, ``Are we meeting the 
standards?'' And I'm honored that Rod has served our country so well. 
And I'm proud to have him on the stage with me today. Thank you, Rod.
    And then there's Brother. [Laughter] We were educated by the same 
person--[laughter]--Mother. [Laughter] We both have a passion for making 
sure every child learns. That's how we were raised, to do the best we 
could do in the schoolrooms. The truth of the matter is, when you really 
think about it, education--true education begins at home. Every mom and 
dad is a teacher. We had a pretty darn good teacher, I want you to know.
    I'm proud of my brother. He's willing to take risks on behalf of the 
children of the State of Florida. He's willing to stand up to the 
critics. He's willing to stand strong when it comes to insisting upon 
certain principles.

[[Page 1179]]

We love him, and I'm proud that he has joined us here today as well.
    I want to thank Jim Horne, the Florida commissioner of education. 
These commissioners of these States have got big jobs already, and then 
we've compounded their job. We've got a new Federal law that needs to be 
implemented, and we expect these commissioners to implement the law, and 
Jim is doing just that.
    I'm honored that the mayor is here, Mayor Peyton. He's a--I know, I 
saw him sitting over there. [Laughter] He drove from the airport to the 
football stadium with us. And I told him, I said he's doing a pretty 
good job of handling the traffic. We didn't see a lot. [Laughter]
    I know we've got State legislators here. My only admonition to the 
State legislators is to make sure that public education is the number 
one priority of the State of Florida, to do the best you can do about 
setting priorities.
    I want to thank General John Fryer, the superintendent of schools 
here. I thought it was pretty interesting, when I was reading the 
background of the schools here, I see that you got you a general--
[laughter]--running the school system. That's good. [Laughter] It's also 
good that somebody who served this country in one capacity is willing to 
serve again.
    And one of the things that Laura and I are trying to do is encourage 
people to serve the public school system, particularly Laura. She's 
spending a lot of time heralding Troops to Teachers programs to 
encourage people who have served in one capacity to go ahead and get 
back in the classroom or to serve your community by teaching in the 
school system. We need more of our fellow Americans who are looking for 
something to do to get involved in public education. Teaching is a noble 
profession. Teaching is a chance to leave behind a really important 
legacy, and that is a saved life.
    I want to thank Kim Barnes, who is the chairman--chairwoman of the 
Duval County School Board. That's probably the hardest job in America, 
is to be on the school board. [Laughter] It's difficult because a lot of 
pressures and a lot of people who have got opinions. And so I want to 
thank the school board members who are here with us today for serving 
this important community, for lending your time and talents to always, 
hopefully, raising the bar and always insisting on the best.
    We've got some interesting--we had an interesting forum. I'm going 
to describe what we discussed a little earlier, but we've got Wandra 
Sanders here, who's a teacher at Hyde Park, a representative of--we had 
a chance to visit with Teresa Nelson, who's a parent, and a mom or a 
dad.
    By the way, schools really do well when mothers and dads take an 
interest in the school. And for you parents who are here, I want to 
thank you very much for not only, obviously, loving your child but also 
working hard to make sure the school in your community, in your 
neighborhood, has not only the resources necessary to succeed but your 
time and talents to help these good hard-working teachers and this good 
principal to achieve their objectives.
    We've got some folks from around the country who are here, and I'm 
going to talk about why they're here a little bit. But I do want to 
recognize Eli Broad. He is the president of the Broad Foundation. He is 
from Los Angeles, California. He is an incredibly successful business 
person. He and his wife put together a little nest egg. And they asked a 
question, ``What can we do to help the country?'' And they have decided 
that they would lend their resources and talents to the improvement of 
public education all across America. And Eli, thank you so very much for 
your generosity.
    Tom Luce is with us. He's from the great State of Texas. [Laughter] 
I've known Tom a long time. He runs what's called Just for the Kids. 
Just for the Kids is a program that said, how can we make the 
accountability systems all around America become an effective tool to 
make sure no child is left behind. Tom has been an agitator for change 
in our State of Texas ever since I've known him, and I'm proud he's 
here. Thank you for coming, Tom.
    Bill Cox is with us today. Bill Cox is the managing director of 
School Evaluation Services for Standard & Poor's. Standard & Poor's is a 
part of this new initiative that I'm going to describe here in a little 
bit. And I want to thank Bill and people from Standard &

[[Page 1180]]

Poor's who have joined us as well. I find it interesting that Standard & 
Poor's, which is mainly associated with stocks and bonds, is associated 
with the true wealth of our country, and that is the children of our 
country, and thank you for coming as well. I'm honored you're here.
    Today when I landed at the Naval Air Station, I met a guy named 
Daniel Trifiletti. You don't know Daniel. I didn't know him until I got 
the chance to read his background. He's a high school student who is a 
mentor for kids in middle school. He's an amazing guy, when you think 
about it, that he is willing to take time to help somebody else.
    I bring this up because there's a lot made about the might of the 
United States of America, and we're plenty mighty. We're strong 
militarily. And by the way, I intend to keep it that way, in order to 
make the world more peaceful. But that's not the true strength of the 
country. The true strength of the country is the heart and soul of our 
citizens. Really think about what makes America unique. It's the fact 
that we've got millions of people who are willing to dedicate their time 
to help somebody else. And I think it's a remarkable part of our country 
and the fabric of our country.
    I also find it to be great that we have a high school student who is 
willing to be a soldier in the army of compassion, and that's Daniel. 
And so, Daniel, I want to thank you for coming. I want to thank you for 
setting the example. I want to thank you for serving meals at the local 
soup kitchen. I want to thank you for your participation in Habitat for 
Humanity. I want to thank you for lending your talents to help some kid 
achieve his or her dreams. Welcome, and thank you for being a leader.
    I like to tell people that the No Child Left Behind Act was the most 
dramatic reforms in public education in a generation. And here's why I 
think it is: First, inherent in the law is the belief that every child 
can learn. That sounds simple, doesn't it? Sometimes, if you think back 
to past practices in public schools, that necessarily wasn't the 
attitude. When you had a system that was just shuffling kids through, it 
said to me that some perhaps thought certain kids couldn't learn, and 
therefore, the best thing to do was just move them on.
    If you believe every child can learn, if you're willing to challenge 
the soft bigotry of low expectations, then you want to know, is it true 
that each child is learning? That's what you want to find out. A system 
which measures progress for each child is a system in which the inherent 
philosophy is, I believe every child can learn.
    If you don't want to know, then you probably don't believe they can 
learn. If you do want to know, then you have this sense of high 
expectations for each child. And so for the first time, the Federal 
Government said, ``In return for money from the Federal Government, we 
are now going to ask the questions, can a child read and write? Can a 
child add and subtract?'' For the first time, the Federal Government got 
involved in education in a different way. We expect results. If you 
believe every child can learn, then you shouldn't fear that question, or 
those questions. You shouldn't fear results.
    People who believe that children can learn say, ``I want to be 
measured to show you that I'm teaching every child. That's what I want 
to show you. I'm a teacher because I love children. I'm a teacher 
because I care about the future. I want to show you. I want to show you, 
the community and the taxpayers and the moms and dads, that I can teach 
and our children are learning.''
    And so we changed the attitude of the Federal Government toward just 
handing out money. You know, I've heard all the debates about 
accountability systems. I mean, you hear it's discriminatory to measure. 
It is discriminatory not to measure. It is pure discrimination--it is 
discrimination not to measure, because guess who gets shuffled through 
the system? Guess who just gets shoved through? It's generally children 
whose parents don't have money. It's generally minority kids. We're just 
going to move them through and hope they come out okay in the end. Well, 
they don't come out okay in the end. We must focus early to make sure 
every child can read and write and add and subtract. The measurement 
system is the way you save lives in America.
    And so the Federal Government said not only in return for money, 
you'll measure, we

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said we're going to disaggregate results. That's a fancy word that says 
we want to know whether or not Hispanic students are learning, whether 
or not the African American students are learning. We want to know if 
every child is learning; that's what we want to know. We want to take a 
look at every single possible group of citizens to determine whether or 
not we are meeting the high standards that we believe so strongly in our 
hearts.
    So we've got a new system. And we're putting money behind what we 
said we would do. The '04 request by the administration--that's me--
[laughter]--is $53.1 billion for the Elementary and Secondary School 
Act, which, as you know, is where the majority of Federal money comes 
from. That's a significant increase since I became the President of the 
United States. The Title I portion of that title in the appropriations 
bill is $12.3 billion. That's up 41 percent since I became President of 
the United States. We're putting money into the system.
    We've got a brand new reading initiative where we will have spent, 
since the No Child Left Behind Act was passed, $1.2 billion for reading 
instruction. By the way, we're trying to promote curriculum which 
actually works. We want to make sure, if we spend money on reading, that 
children learn to read. We want to make sure as we spend money on 
reading, teachers know how to teach that which works. Part of that money 
went to teacher training. Eight thousand Florida teachers have now been 
retrained since the law came into being. They're retrained on curriculum 
which work. So the whole purpose is to take Federal money and focus it 
on Title I kids and on teachers and on reading curriculum. It's to make 
sure we meet the objective, make sure we meet the high standards that we 
believe are necessary.
    The money also, by the way, goes to help children who could 
conceivably be left behind. I was in Nashville, Tennessee, yesterday at 
Kirkpatrick Elementary School. A part of the monies I just described to 
you are used for after-school tutoring programs. Those go to a low-
performing, low-performing schools, low-income people. You don't get 
that money here at Hyde Park because you're not a low-performing school. 
But they still have after-school tutoring here. It's one of the reasons 
why I think the children are doing well and no child is being left 
behind here.
    At Kirkpatrick School, a parent is notified because the school 
district's aggressive. They reach out to parents. They say, ``These 
options are available for your parents. Here's a list of providers, a 
specialist in reading and math that are now available for your child so 
that your child, at no cost, can get after-school tutoring.'' In other 
words, the No Child Left Behind Act does hold people to account, but it 
says that there are--we want to help people out of mediocrity when we 
find it. And there's resources available providing incredibly important 
tutoring.
    You know, one of the things I called for yesterday was to make sure 
Governors and superintendents make it very clear to parents that, where 
applicable, that there is money available for low-income tutoring, money 
available for special focus, money available to make sure that every 
child has an opportunity to succeed. As well, the system says that after 
a period of time, if schools don't improve, then a parent can send their 
child to another public school or a charter school. In other words, 
there's different options available to moms and dads. And that's 
positive, and that's helpful, and that's healthy.
    In order for parents to be involved--and for that matter, citizens 
to be involved--they have to be able to make informed decisions. As Luce 
reminded me, he said, ``Without data, without facts, without 
information, the discussions about public education mean that a person 
is just another opinion.'' In other words, what we're interested in 
doing is laying out the facts for people to see so people can make 
informed decisions.
    And so, therefore, I'm going to describe to you a really innovative 
plan that is being produced by Tom and Eli and Standard & Poor's in 
conjunction with the Department of Education. It's a $50-million plan, 
plus $5 million from the Federal Government, to create a data bank for 
every citizen in the country to access to determine how the schools are 
doing all around the country.
    It's an interesting opportunity, when you think about it, certainly 
necessary for parents in order for them to make an informed opinion 
about their child. It will help principals

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determine whether or not the curriculum their particular school is using 
works. It should help teachers decide--know whether or not what they're 
doing is working or not working. It will make sure that best practices 
is--becomes a integral part of the dialog all throughout the school 
system.
    You know, people say to me, ``Well, we can't have a measuring system 
because it's going to be punitive.'' Quite the contrary. A measuring 
system is a useful tool. A measuring system will allow people to know 
where they stand relative to where they need to go. You cannot solve a 
problem until you first diagnose the problem. And that's exactly what 
the accountability system that States design, not the Federal 
Government, is intended to do.
    You might hear us talk about, well, the Federal Government told us 
to design a accountability system, but we have to pay for it. Not true. 
The Federal Government said--in this case, we said, ``You need to design 
a system to show us whether or not you're achieving objectives with all 
this money we're sending you. And, oh, by the way, here's a little extra 
money for you to design the systems so we can measure.''
    So this month, we're beginning a new public/private effort that will 
post information about test results and student achievement on the 
Internet so all parents, all teachers, can monitor progress of their 
local schools, their schools relative to other schools in the 
neighborhood, the schools relative to schools from county to county. The 
program will help States analyze the data, the test results, the 
financial data, and other school information required by the Federal act 
to be posted.
    In other words, we're not only going to measure, but an effective 
measurement system is one that says, ``Oh, by the way, here are the 
results for everybody to see, not just a few people, not just a planner 
here or maybe a measurement expert there.'' We want full disclosure. We 
have nothing to hide in America when it comes to results. As a matter of 
fact, since the measurement systems is a tool to achieve that which we 
believe, which is every child can learn, there needs to be full 
disclosure. It's an essential part of developing trust in the public 
school system. It's an essential part of making sure that the best 
practices are shared widely across any particular school district or any 
State. It is essential that parents have data at their disposal.
    I can assure you that a parent who understands what's going on is 
going to be a less frustrated parent. The parent will be more 
comfortable when there's full disclosure about the results and the 
progress toward the standard of excellence that's being made.
    I mention the fact that there's $50 million from the private sector 
being put up. That's where Eli came in. That's an incredibly generous 
contribution to make, when you think about it. I'll tell you why it's so 
generous, is because the access to the Internet will be at no cost. I 
mean, this is a man who said, ``How can I help public schools?'' He 
said, ``I want to be an integral part of the accountability system 
nationwide.'' And initially, there will be 10 States up by the end of 
this January. By the end of '04, every State will be--have their results 
posted, school by school, district by district, county by county, all 
across the State.
    If you're fixing to move from point X to Florida--of course, that 
seems like what's happening, at least according to the Governor, people 
are moving here and not moving out--you'll be able to get on the 
Internet, and you can determine whether the school in your particular 
neighborhood, how it's faring relative to other schools. If you're a 
teacher and you've got a cousin who is a teacher, and they're saying, 
``Well, our school system in Tampa is a little better than it is here in 
Jacksonville,'' you can get on the Internet to determine whether that's 
the case. [Laughter]
    If you're a principal and you hear a school is using a reading 
curriculum that seems to make sense and you want to determine whether or 
not it's working, you can get on. And not only can you get on the system 
to determine how that school is doing, you can get on the system to 
determine whether or not the reading curriculum is working for Hispanic 
kids, African American kids, Anglo kids.
    In other words, this is full disclosure of information, because we 
believe every child can learn. We know that by using information

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correctly, every child's problems can be addressed. And we know how 
essential it is that every child does learn in America. The truth of the 
matter is, we're talking about the future of this country right now.

    I mean, I spent a lot of time on the security of our Nation, and I 
can assure you I will continue spending time on the security of our 
Nation. One aspect of that security is to deal with people who hate 
America. It's to go get them before they get us, and that's what we'll 
continue to do. But when you really think about it, when you put your 
mind to it, a second aspect of the security of America is to make sure 
every child is educated. Our country--I'm talking about every aspect of 
security, economic security, security of our families. A hopeful America 
is what I believe in and I know you believe in. A hopeful America is an 
America in which each child can read and write and add and subtract. A 
hopeful America is where children say, ``You know, I'm going to get an 
education early, and I'm going to go to college.'' A hopeful America is 
where people can dream and realize their dreams because the education 
system is fulfilling its promise.

    America's past has been defined by a public school system that has 
met the needs of a complex society. This No Child Left Behind Act and 
the good work of our principals and teachers and good cooperation and 
hard work of Governors like Jeb Bush will mean that the public school 
system in the future will meet the needs of a complex society. Working 
together, we'll make sure that we fulfill our promise to the future, and 
that is, no child will be left behind in America.

    May God bless you all, and may God bless our country.

Note: The President spoke at 1:50 p.m. in the auditorium. In his 
remarks, he referred to Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida; Mayor John Peyton of 
Jacksonville; Nancy Miller, principal, Hyde Park Elementary; John C. 
Fryer, superintendent, Duval County Public Schools; and Kris Barnes, 
chairman, Duval County School Board.