Remarks at a Leadership Forum in Wilmington, Delaware

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, April 9, 2001

April 3, 2001

The President. Thank you, Mr. Jones. I'm honored to be here. Thank you all.

Claven Jones. Before we all get started here, can I ask you a question?

The President. You can do anything you--it's your building, you can do anything you want. [Laughter]

Mr. Jones. What did you think about those Power Hour kids upstairs? Weren't they great?

The President. I loved seeing the Power Hour kids. I know societies can change one person at a time. And while those of us in Government are trying to do the best we can with budgets and taxes, what we can't do is make people love one another. But what we can do is encourage loving people to help. And so I saw the Power Hour as an opportunity for children to improve themselves, but I also saw it as an opportunity for people to give something back in our society.

And so I want to thank you for giving me the chance to come. I want to say a couple of things. First, I'm honored to be traveling with the Delaware delegation, the two United States Senators: Senator Biden and Senator Carper. These are smart, capable people. I just hope they do it the way I think they ought to be doing it. [Laughter]

We will find--I will assure you this--we'll find areas where you can agree. I noticed Senator Carper dropped a strong charter school bill--and I was at Maurice's school earlier in the year. And Tom and I come from the Governors ranks; we worked a lot together; there's a lot of areas where we know we can work together to improve public education. And there's going to be some times we don't agree, but my pledge to the American people and the people of Delaware is, when we disagree, it will be done in a way that's respectful, where we can treat each other with respect, where we don't have to have this needless name-calling and finger-pointing to get ahead.

And I respect these two Senators. I may not like every vote. Of course, they may not like every proposal. But I can assure you that we're working hard to change the attitude of Washington, DC, so there is a more respectful attitude and so there can be a more civil debate about where this country ought to go.

And then, of course, I was pleased to see that I got 100 percent support on one of my proposals from the Delaware delegate, and that is Mike Castle. And one thing I love about Mike is that he is a very thoughtful Member who stays focused. And his focus is education, amongst a lot of other things, but his main drive right now is to make sure we get the education bill right.

And the education bill that we're trying to get out of the House, and eventually the Senate, mirrors much of what you've done here in Delaware under the leadership of then-Governor Carper. And I see members of the legislature here as well. It really says, every child can learn; it's important to trust local people to run the schools; and we must have accountability to determine whether or not every child is learning. And if children are learning, we'll praise the teachers and principals and superintendents. But if not, instead of just moving children through the system as if they don't matter, we address the problems early, before it's too late. Strong accountability systems lead to re forms.

Senator Carper, then-Governor Carper, recognized that. I think I got some credit for recognizing that in the State of Texas. And the whole cornerstone of the reform movement that we're trying to get out of the Senate and the House says that if you receive Federal aid, you, the State, must devise an accountability system to let the folks know whether or not children are learning.

And oh, by the way, let's also have a reading-national reading program that starts teaching children to read early. Let's have after-school programs called 21st Century Programs that not only are run by public school institutions, if that's what the local community wants, but also says, programs community programs or faith-based pro grams are just as capable about running pro grams as anybody else is. And so all the Federal money, as far as I'm concerned, for after school programs ought to be opened up to every program in the State of Delaware.

And so I'm here to say thanks for what you do. It's good to see-I was going to say old friends, Maurice-friends I've known for a while-not all that old. Maurice runs a great charter school here, as you all know, and he's done a fantastic job.

Mr. Jones--I told him earlier that I wrote a bestseller--actually, I didn't write it; they say--they claimed I wrote it--called "A Charge To Keep," and it's actually about me. So if you're having trouble sleeping at night, you may want to pick it up. [Laughter] At any rate--but all the proceeds are going to the Big Brothers and Big Sisters programs and Boys and Girls Clubs of America, be cause I believe so profoundly--I believe so strongly in mentoring, and I believe so strongly in helping children understand somebody loves them. And Government can't do that, but what Government can do is facilitate programs and allow faith-based programs to access Federal monies so that they can help change hearts.