Remarks Following a Meeting With Congressional Leaders and an Exchange With Reporters

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Oct 9, 2000

October 5, 2000

"Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Act"

The President. Good morning. I want to thank Senator Dasehle and Congressman Gephardt and the distinguished Members of the House and Senate who have come here today for a meeting on education. And I want to direct my remarks toward that and then call on Senator Robb and Representative Berkley to talk. But before I do, I would like to say a few words about the "Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Act," which passed the Senate unanimously yesterday.

This bill will help thousands of low-income women with cancer get the early, affordable treatment which can save their lives. I just spoke with Speaker Hastert, and he said that he expected the bill to pass the House immediately, so that help can start flowing to women for whom it could be a matter of life and death.

I was glad to include this initiative in my budget, and I'll be proud to sign it into law. It is a good example of how we can work together for the good of the American people.

Education Legislation

Unfortunately, so far we still don't have that same approach on our most important priority, education. So far, the majority party has not joined us in providing the investments necessary to support a strategy that has been working to improve our schools for 7 years now. We have pursued this strategy relentlessly, under the leadership of Secretary Riley, and we have pursued investments which will support that strategy. Every year we've had to fight for them, but every year we've been successful in the end in getting enough bipartisan support to prevail.

Unfortunately, this year education seems to be almost the only thing on Capitol Hill where they don't want to spend a lot of extra money. As all of you know, lots of extra money has been added to many appropriations bills; billions of dollars has been spent on special projects and other things that cannot possibly be characterized as the Nation's highest priorities, over and above what were the budget limits back at the beginning of the year when we didn't know that the budget would be in as good a shape as it's in.

We have worked over the last several years to restore billions of dollars in educational funding, and we are prepared to fight for it again. I'd like to explain why and talk about the latest evidence we have that our strategy is working.

For 7 years we've had a straightforward approach. We've worked to increase standards, raise accountability, and make critical investments in education. We promoted standards in every State, required States to identify failing schools and make efforts to turn them around. We've increased Head Start dramatically and begun to provide funding for after-school and summer school programs. We have worked to connect 95 percent of our schools to the Internet, and we provided more choice through charter schools. We've hired more teachers and improved teacher quality. We're gaining ground.

For example, in 1993 only 14 States had real standards and a core curriculum. Today, 49 States do. In 1993 only 14 percent of our schools and 3 percent of our classrooms were connected to the Internet. Today, 95 percent of the schools and 65 percent of the classrooms are connected. In 1993 there was only one charter school in the entire country. Today, there are 1,700. In 1993 there was no Federal funding for after-school and summer school programs. Today, there are 600,000 children in such programs instead of on the streets. In 1993 there were no nationally certified master teachers. Today, there are almost 5,000, and by the end of the year, there will be well over 10,000.

All over the country States are turning around troubled schools. And I might say, this is due in no small measure to the leadership of the Secretary of Education, who will be talking later to the press about the report I'm going to discuss. But since 1993, he has reduced, by two-thirds, regulations imposed on States and local school districts under the previous administrations. And a new GAO report just came out showing that 99 percent of the funds appropriated by the Congress for the 10 largest Federal education programs actually are received by the local school districts for the purpose for which they were intended.

Math and reading scores are now rising across America. Some of the greatest gains are in the most disadvantaged schools. The number of students taking advance placement tests has increased by two-thirds in 8 years, the increase among Latino students, 300 percent; among African-American students, 500 percent. College exam scores are rising--entrance exam scores--even though more students from more disadvantaged backgrounds are taking the tests. The high school dropout rate is down, the college-going rate at an all-time high.

But no one believes that we have finished the job of renewing American education, so that all students can get the world-class skills they need. The students who went back to school this fall are the biggest, most diverse group in our history. We owe it to them to make sure they're prepared to succeed in the high-tech information society in which they will live. That's what we have to do.