21ST CENTURY SCHOOLS

There are more children, from more diverse backgrounds, in our public schools than at any time in our history. Their education must provide the knowledge and nurture the creativity that will allow our nation to thrive in the new economy.

Today we can say something we could not say six years ago: with more affordable student loans, more Pell grants and work-study jobs, education IRAs, a lifetime learning tax credit for junior and senior year of college, and the new HOPE Scholarship tax cut that more than 5 million Americans will receive this year, we have opened the doors of college to all.

With our help, nearly every state has set higher academic standards for public schools, and a voluntary national test is being developed to measure the progress of our students. With over one billion dollars in discounts available this year, we are on our way to our goal of connecting every classroom and library to the Internet.

Last fall, you passed our proposal to start hiring 100,000 new teachers to reduce class size in the early grades. Now I ask you to finish the job.

Our children are doing better. SAT scores are up. Math scores have risen in nearly all grades. But there is a problem: While our fourth graders outperform their peers in other countries in math and science, our eighth graders are around average, and our 12th graders rank near the bottom.

We must do better. Each year the national government invests more than $15 billion in our public schools. I believe we must change the way we invest that money, to support what works and to stop supporting what doesn’t.

Later this year, I will send Congress a plan that for the first time holds states and school districts accountable for progress and rewards them for results. My Education Accountability Act will require every school district receiving federal help to take the following five steps.

First, all schools must end social promotion.

No child should graduate from high school with a diploma he or she can’t read. We do our children no favors when we allow them to pass from grade to grade without mastering the material.

But we can’t just hold students back when the system fails them. So my balanced budget triples the funding for summer school and after school programs. We can keep one million students learning beyond regular school hours, when parents work and juvenile crime soars.

If you doubt this will work, look at Chicago, which ended social promotion and made summer school mandatory for those who don’t master the basics. Math and reading scores are up three years running—with some of the biggest gains in some of the poorest neighborhoods.

Second, all states and school districts must turn around their worst performing schools—or shut them down. That is the policy established by Gov. Jim Hunt in North Carolina, where test scores made the biggest gains in the nation last year. My budget includes $200 million to help states turn around their failing schools.

Third, all states and school districts must be held responsible for the quality of their teachers. The great majority of teachers do a fine job. But in too many schools, teachers don’t have college majors —or even minors—in the subjects they teach.

New teachers should be required to pass performance exams. All teachers should know the subjects they are teaching. My balanced budget contains new resources to help them reach higher standards.

To attract talented young teachers to the toughest assignments, I recommend a six-fold increase in scholarships for college students who commit to teach in the inner cities, isolated rural areas and Indian communities.

Fourth, we must empower parents, with more Information and more choices. In too many communities, it is easier to get information on the quality of the local restaurants than on the quality of the local schools. Every school district should issue report cards on every school.

And parents should have more choice in selecting their public schools. When I became president, there was one independent, public charter school in all of America. With our support, there are 1100 today. My budget assures that early in the next century, there will be 3000.

Fifth, to ensure that our classrooms are truly places of learning, all states and school districts must adopt and implement discipline policies.

Now, let’s do one more thing for our children. Today, too many of our schools are so old they’re falling apart, or so overcrowded students must learn in trailers. Last fall, Congress missed the opportunity to change that. This year, with 53 million children in our schools, Congress must not miss that opportunity again. I ask you to help our communities build or modernize 5000 schools.

If we do these things—end social promotion, turn around failing schools, build modern ones, support qualified teachers, promote innovation, competition and discipline—we will begin to meet our generation’s historic responsibility to create 21st Century schools.

We must do more to help the millions of parents who give their all every day at home and at work.

The most basic tool of all is a decent income. Let’s raise the minimum wage by a dollar an hour over the next two years.

And let’s make sure women and men get equal pay for equal work by strengthening enforcement of equal pay laws.

Working parents also need quality child care. Again, I ask Congress to support our plan for tax credits and subsidies for working families, improved safety and quality, and expanded after-school programs. Our plan also includes a new tax credit for stay-at-home parents. They need support too.

The Family Medical Leave Act—the first bill I signed into law—has helped millions of Americans care for a new baby or an ailing relative without risking their jobs. We should extend Family Leave to 10 million more Americans working in smaller companies.

Parents should never face discrimination in the workplace. I will ask Congress to prohibit companies from refusing to hire or promote workers simply because they have children.

America’s families deserve the world’s best medical care.

Thanks to bipartisan federal support for medical research, we are on the verge of new treatments to prevent or delay diseases from Parkinsons to Alzheimers, from arthritis to cancer.

As we continue our advances in medical science, we cannot let our health care system lag behind.

Managed care has transformed medicine in America—driving down costs, but threatening to drive down quality as well. I say to every American: You should have the right to know all your medical options—not just the cheapest. You should have the right to see a specialist. You should have the right to emergency care. You should have the right to continuity of care—to keep your doctor during a pregnancy or chemotherapy or some other treatment.

I have ordered that these rights be extended to the 85 million Americans served by Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health plans. But only Congress can enact the Patients’ Bill of Rights for all Americans in all health plans. Last year, Congress missed that opportunity.

This year, for the sake of our families, Congress must not miss that opportunity again. Pass the Patients’ Bill of Rights.