Remarks at Forest Knolls Elementary School in Silver Spring

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Oct 19, 1998

October 13, 1998

Thank you very, very much. Well, first of all, I'd like to thank Carolyne Starek for that marvelous statement. Didn't she do a good job? [Applause] And she talked about teachers using visual aids, and then pointed the press, helpfully, to the visual aid back here. [Laughter] I'm glad you're here, but if you'd ever like a job in communications at the White House, I think we might be able to arrange that. [Laughter]

Let me say to all of you how delighted I am to be here. I want to thank Nancy King for her devotion to education and her remarks and Dr. Paul Vance, the other local officials who are here, Mr. Leggett and the delegates and the school board members. If I come out here to this school district one more time, I think you ought to devise a special assessment for me so I can contribute to the building fund of the schools - I have been here so much.

My great partner in our efforts to improve education is the Secretary of Education, Dick Riley, I believe, the best Secretary of Education America ever had, and I'd like to thank him for being here.

I want to thank Governor Parris Glendening and Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend for their extraordinary work and leadership. This is one of the most innovative State governments in America. Maryland is always at the forefront of whatever is happening in education and the environment and economic incentives. And as a person who served as Governor for 12 years, I believe I know a little something about that, and one of the things that I always love to do is to steal ideas from other Governors. You know, that's not a very delicate way of saying what the framers of our Constitution had in mind when they called the States the laboratories of democracy. That's what a laboratory is - you find a discovery, then no one else has to discover it; they can just borrow it. If I were a Governor today, I would be paying a lot of attention to what goes on in Maryland. And I thank them for what they have done.

I would also like to thank Senator Daschle and Congressman Gephardt. I think you could see the intensity, the passion they feel for our determination after nearly a year of trying to get education on the agenda of this Congress before it goes home. We cannot allow a budget to pass without a serious consideration of these issues. And their leadership and their passion and their commitment have made it possible.

A President - if the Congress is in the hands of the other party, and they passionately and genuinely, I think, disagree with us on whether we should put 100,000 teachers out there, or help build or repair thousands of schools - none of this would be possible if it weren't for their leadership. And I want you to understand that. I can give speeches until the cows come home, but until the majority party wanted to go home for the election, and our guys said no, my "no" was not enough. And so I thank them and all of their colleagues who are here today.

I want to introduce them just to show you the depth and the national sweep of our feeling about this. Senator Daschle is from South Dakota. He is joined by our leader in the Senate on education issues, Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, and Senator Byron Dorgan from North Dakota. You know Mr. Gephardt is from St. Louis; he said that. He's joined by David Bonior, from Michigan; Charles Rangel, from New York; Ted Strickland, from Ohio; Nita Lowey, from New York; Ruben Hinojosa, from South Texas; and two Congress Members from Maryland, Steny Hoyer and Albert Wynn.

I'd also like to acknowledge a longtime friend of mine who is a candidate for Congress and, as Ted Kennedy reminded me before I came up here, back in the great days when America was fighting for equal rights for all of these children, without regard to their race, Ralph Neas was known as the "101st United States Senator" for civil rights. And we're glad to have him here. Thank you.

When I ran for President 6 years ago I had an absolute conviction - and a lot of people thought I was dead wrong - but I had an absolute conviction that we could reduce the deficit and eventually balance the budget and still invest more in our children and in our future. And we have been working to do that. The strategy has worked. We've got the strongest economy in a generation, the first balanced budget and surplus in 29 years, the lowest crime rate in 25 years, and the doors of college are more open than ever before.

I think it is literally possible to say now that because of the Pell grants, and the deductibility of student loan interest, and the fact that young people can pay back their college loans as a percentage of their incomes, and because of the widespread tax credits for $1,500 a year for the 2 years of college, and then tax credits for other years of college - that you - literally possible to say now that any young person that works for it will find the doors of college open to them and not barred by money. And I am very proud of that. I think we have done the right thing.