No Child Left Behind
                                   
                                   It is good to be with you - with men and women who
                                   are building the new economy of California.

                                   We are witnessing a Latino economic miracle - un
                                   milagro economico. There 

                                   are now 440,000 Latino businesses in Southern
                                   California. They generate $47 billion in sales each year.
                                   Latino businesses are the largest and fastest growing
                                   part of the small business community in this region.
                                   When half of the new businesses in Los Angeles are
                                   Latino-owned, this is no longer a niche market. It is the
                                   mainstream of our economic hopes.

                                   This marks a new era - a permanent revolution - in
                                   California, and in many other places, including my state
                                   of Texas. An era in which the Latino market will demand
                                   the attention of our whole economy. An era in which our
                                   prosperity is as broad and diverse as our nation. This
                                   community has saved and worked and struggled. And
                                   now it has arrived.

                                   The health of the Latino business community is
                                   reflected in the health and growth of this organization -
                                   the largest association of Latino entrepreneurs in the
                                   state. The Latin Business Association is doing well, and
                                   it is also doing good work by helping other
                                   entrepreneurs realize their dreams.

                                   I am here with you today because you are leaders and
                                   because you embody the permanent hope, the durable
                                   dream, of this nation: to build a better life for ourselves
                                   and our children.

                                   I am an optimist. I believe that the next century will be
                                   a time of incredible prosperity - if we create an
                                   environment where entrepreneurs like you can dream
                                   and flourish. A prosperity sustained by low taxes,
                                   unleashed by lighter regulation, energized by new
                                   technologies, expanded by free trade. A prosperity
                                   beyond all our expectations, but within our grasp.

                                   Yet all around this country, I have argued that
                                   prosperity must have a higher purpose. The purpose of
                                   prosperity is to make sure the American dream touches
                                   every willing heart. The purpose of prosperity is to leave
                                   no one out - to leave no one behind.

                                   This noble goal will remain a distant goal until our
                                   nation fulfills a solemn pledge: to educate every child.
                                   In coming weeks, I plan to talk about the safety of our
                                   schools, the character of our children, the education
                                   standards we should set, and the accountability we
                                   should expect.

                                   But I want to start where educational failure has its
                                   highest price. I want to begin with disadvantaged
                                   children in struggling schools, and the federal role in
                                   helping them. Their voices are not the loudest in our
                                   education debates. But we owe them the pride and
                                   promise of learning. Our new economy - requiring higher
                                   and higher skills - demands it. And so does our
                                   conscience. No child in America should be segregated by
                                   low expectations ... imprisoned by illiteracy ...abandoned
                                   to frustration and the darkness of self-doubt.

                                   National wealth is a worthy goal. But what would it
                                   profit our nation to gain the whole world and lose our
                                   own children?

                                   In response to this challenge, the last several years
                                   have been a time of bold change in education. A drizzle
                                   of innovation has become a flood of reform - a great
                                   movement of conscience and hope. A movement of
                                   parents and political leaders, voters and educators,
                                   hungry for high standards, tough accountability and real
                                   choices. Five years ago, only eight states had charter
                                   school laws. Today there are 35. A few years ago, no
                                   state had school-by-school report cards. Now there are
                                   at least three dozen.

                                   Unlike past fads and fashions, these reforms are
                                   proving that public education can be improved - swiftly
                                   and dramatically.

                                   I have seen it with my own eyes. The skeptics of
                                   education reform should visit KIPP Academy in Houston
                                   - a charter school that mainly serves the children of
                                   Latino immigrants. KIPP refuses to accept the
                                   "high-risk" label, demanding high standards and hard
                                   work. Children have nine-and-a-half-hour days, class on
                                   Saturday and two hours of homework a night. The
                                   director promises, "If you're off the bus, you're working."
                                   And 

                                   it is an incredibly cheerful and hopeful place. When you
                                   go there, you can see the light of ambition and
                                   discovery in young eyes. You can sense the self-esteem
                                   that comes from real accomplishment. After one year at
                                   KIPP, nearly 100 percent of students pass our state
                                   skills test in math and reading, making it the number
                                   one public middle school in all of Houston.

                                   Or look at the Bennett-Kew Elementary School near here
                                   in Inglewood. A school I recently visited. A haven of
                                   hope. Nearly 8 in 10 students are disadvantaged, but it
                                   posts some of the strongest test scores in Los Angeles
                                   County. It teaches mastery of reading in kindergarten,
                                   and promotion in every grade level is tied to
                                   achievement. The principal explains: "We believe all
                                   children can learn. And they do."

                                   Why do some schools work in places where so many
                                   schools fail? We can see 

                                   the emerging outlines of an answer. In places all around
                                   our country, like Texas and North Carolina and California
                                   and Virginia and Massachusetts, governors and parents
                                   and teachers - Republicans and Democrat and
                                   none-of-the-above - are embracing reforms and calling
                                   for excellence.

                                        First, schools must have a few clear,
                                       measurable goals, focused on basic skills and
                                       essential knowledge. Education is about
                                       results, not theories; about knowledge, not
                                       intentions. "If you don't know where you are
                                       going," said Yogi Berra, "chances are, you'll
                                       end up someplace else." When I became
                                       Governor of Texas, we had 48 separate
                                       educational goals - which meant that a school
                                       might achieve 40 goals, and still not teach
                                       children to read. We reduced that number to
                                       four goals: excellence in reading, math,
                                       science and social studies.

                                        Second, we must measure to make sure
                                       standards are met. In Texas, we measure. We
                                       test because parents must know if education
                                       is taking place. We test because informed
                                       parents become more involved. We test
                                       because children must get the help they need
                                       before they are lost in the system. We test
                                       because hard data allows teachers and
                                       principals to examine their methods and
                                       change their direction. Measurement makes
                                       some people nervous. But without tests, there
                                       is no pressure for progress.

                                        Third, effective reform requires
                                       accountability. Someone should be praised
                                       when schools succeed, and someone must be
                                       responsible when schools fail. As much as 37
                                       percent of school principals in low-performing
                                       Texas schools have been replaced or retired
                                       each year, because citizens and parents have
                                       refused to accept failure.

                                        Fourth, accountability is empty without local
                                       control of schools. It is essential to align
                                       responsibility and accountability at the local
                                       level; to separate them provides a convenient
                                       excuse for failure - just blame the central
                                       office. Higher standards demand broader
                                       flexibility.

                                        Finally, we must recognize the essential role
                                       of competition in achieving our goals -
                                       competition from charters and parental choice
                                       and home schooling. All monopolies are slow
                                       to reform when consumers have no power to
                                       express their frustration. In education, parents
                                       who have options have influence. When the
                                       Children's Scholarship Fund recently offered
                                       40,000, privately funded, partial scholarships
                                       to poor children, it received a million
                                       applications. One million - even though
                                       parents had to match this help with money of
                                       their own. This was a direct challenge to
                                       failing public schools - and should be a motive
                                       for change. Charter schools are another good
                                       example. When they passed in Texas, critics
                                       charged they'd be a haven for fleeing Anglo
                                       students. In reality, 78 percent of students
                                       enrolled in Texas charters are minorities.
                                       These diverse, creative schools are proof that
                                       parents from all walks of life are willing to
                                       challenge the status quo if it means a better
                                       education for their children.

                                   These reforms are proving their worth, but the
                                   movement I am talking about requires more than sound
                                   goals.

                                   It requires a mindset that all children can learn, and no
                                   child should be left behind. It does not matter where
                                   they live, or how much their parents earn. It does not
                                   matter if they grow up in foster care or a two-parent
                                   family. These circumstances are challenges, but they
                                   are not excuses. I believe that every child can learn the
                                   basic skills on which the rest of their life depends.

                                   Some say it is unfair to hold disadvantaged children to
                                   rigorous standards. I say it is discrimination to require
                                   anything less - the soft bigotry of low expectations.
                                   Some say that schools can't be expected to teach,
                                   because there are too many broken families, too many
                                   immigrants, too much diversity. I say that pigment and
                                   poverty need not determine performance. That myth is
                                   disproved by good schools every day. Excuse-making
                                   must end before learning can begin.

                                   This reform movement also requires a different mindset
                                   in politics. Education is too important to have a
                                   strategy of divide and conquer. Unless parents and
                                   principals, teachers and academics, Republicans and
                                   Democrats can find common purposes, reform will fail. I
                                   have worked closely with both parties in my state,
                                   because I know that if we set out to score partisan
                                   points, we will never solve problems. If we do not share
                                   credit for progress, all of us deserve the blame for
                                   failure.

                                   In Texas, we are proud of our results. We have more
                                   than 7,000 public schools, as diverse as any in America.
                                   Since 1994, the number of minority children passing our
                                   state skills test jumped from 38 percent to 69 percent.
                                   Between 1994 and 1999, Hispanic eighth graders posted
                                   a 40 point gain on our math exam. African-American
                                   fourth graders have better math skills in Texas than in
                                   any state in the country.

                                   A lot of people deserve credit - students and parents
                                   and teachers and principals and legislators - and I am
                                   proud of my part. Education has been and will be a
                                   priority for me. I will carry a passion for high standards
                                   and high hopes to the highest office in the land.

                                   For all the advances some states have made, too many
                                   children are being left behind. We are nation where a
                                   majority of fourth graders in our cities can't read or
                                   understand a simple children's book. Where
                                   ninth-graders too often have fourth-grade reading skills.
                                   Where the achievement gap between rich and poor,
                                   Anglo and minority, is wide - and, in some cases,
                                   growing wider still.

                                   It is a scandal of the first order when the average test
                                   scores of African-American and Latino students at age
                                   17 are roughly the same as white 13-year-olds.
                                   Whatever the cause, the effect is discrimination.
                                   Children who never master reading will never master
                                   learning. They face a life of frustration on the fringes of
                                   society. Large numbers turn to crime and end up in
                                   prison. This is a personal tragedy. More and more, we
                                   are divided into two nations, separate and unequal. One
                                   that reads and one that can't. One that dreams and one
                                   that doesn't.

                                   For many years the federal government has tried to
                                   close this gap of hope - armed with good intentions and
                                   billions of dollars. But sacks of money and the best of
                                   motives have made little difference in the performance
                                   of disadvantaged children.

                                   At last count, the federal government had 760 different
                                   education programs operating within 39 different
                                   agencies, boards and commissions. Each was launched
                                   as a step toward reform. But the actual results are
                                   usually a mystery, because no one measures them. The
                                   only thing we know for sure is that federal money
                                   comes with a lot of regulations and paperwork. By one
                                   estimate, this consumes about 50 million hours each
                                   year - the equivalent of 25,000 full-time employees just
                                   to process forms.

                                   The problem here is that failure never turns to wisdom.
                                   New layers of federal mandates and procedures have
                                   been added to the old, until their original purpose is
                                   long forgotten. It is a sad story. High hopes, low
                                   achievement. Grand plans, unmet goals.

                                   My administration will do things differently.

                                   We do not have a national school board, and do not
                                   need one. A president is not a federal principal, and I
                                   will not be one.

                                   The federal government must be humble enough to stay
                                   out of the day-to-day operation of local schools, wise
                                   enough to give states and school districts more
                                   authority and freedom, and strong enough to require
                                   proven performance in return. When we spend federal
                                   money, we want results - especially when it comes to
                                   disadvantaged children.

                                   Today, I want to outline three reforms to help ensure
                                   that no child is left behind:

                                   We will start by funding only what works in education -
                                   only those methods and ideas that prove their power to
                                   close the achievement gap. We need good, reliable,
                                   scientific information on the best methods of teaching.
                                   What the federal government sponsors, however, is
                                   often sloppy and trendy, focusing on self-esteem over
                                   basic skills. My administration will require every federal
                                   program - in teacher training, curriculum research,
                                   school safety - to prove results. If it can't, we will shift
                                   that money into a program that is using it wisely. No
                                   federal education program will be reauthorized merely
                                   because it has existed for years. It is more important to
                                   do good than to feel good.

                                   Take, for example, teaching children to read and
                                   comprehend English. If a good immersion program
                                   works, I say fine. If a good bilingual program works to
                                   teach children English, we should applaud it. What
                                   matters is not the varying methods, but the common
                                   standards and goals. The standard is English literacy.
                                   The goal is equal opportunity. All in an atmosphere
                                   where every heritage is respected and celebrated.

                                   Esta propuesta la he llamado "Ingls y Ms," porque yo
                                   me opongo al "Ingls solamente." "Ingls solamente"
                                   significa "solo y," sin tomar en cuenta a otros. "Ingls
                                   y Ms" significa "todos nosotros, pero juntos." Children
                                   - of any background - should not be used as pawns in
                                   bitter debates on education and immigration, or
                                   punished to make a broader political point.

                                   There is one area where the teaching research is
                                   definitive: The best way to teach children to read is
                                   phonics. No new theory or method has ever improved on
                                   it, as Californians know better than anyone. The
                                   National Institutes of Health - in the kind of rigorous
                                   research we need - has proven that phonics works, and
                                   that children can learn to read much earlier than we
                                   assumed.

                                   But we must take this a step further. We now have
                                   compelling evidence that children ages three and four
                                   can begin to read. We also have a massive Head Start
                                   program, serving 840,000 disadvantaged children at just
                                   those ages. This is a perfect fit. My administration will
                                   reform Head Start programs and aggressively emphasize
                                   early reading skills.

                                   Head Start was originally intended as a literacy
                                   program, designed to close the achievement gap
                                   between rich and poor. It evolved into a day-care,
                                   health and nutrition program. And it has done good
                                   work, not only helping poor children, but also employing
                                   some of their parents as teachers and aides. Yet at
                                   $4.4 billion a year, it could be accomplishing so much
                                   more. Last year, Washington set some new goals for
                                   this program. Now we need a president to strongly
                                   implement them. My administration will move Head
                                   Start out of the Department of Health and Human
                                   Services and over to the 

                                   Department of Education. Head Start will be an
                                   education program. It will fund only those local centers
                                   that emphasize the first steps toward reading and
                                   school-readiness. We will provide them with the basic
                                   research and material on early childhood education. And
                                   each time a Head Start contract is up for renewal, we
                                   will subject that site to an independent evaluation - to
                                   make sure they are successfully putting our children on
                                   the track to learning and literacy. If not, the operation
                                   of a Head Start site will be put up for competitive
                                   bidding - allowing someone, including churches and
                                   synagogues and community groups, to serve our
                                   children better. These children deserve the
                                   opportunities found in many private preschools, with
                                   trained teachers and high expectations. And all this will
                                   be done without sacrificing Head Start's important social
                                   and medical services.

                                   The third reform concerns Title 1 - at $7.7 billion, the
                                   federal government's largest educational commitment to
                                   poor children. I respect that commitment, and will honor
                                   it. But I do not respect poor results with public money.
                                   In my administration, federal money will no longer flow
                                   to failure. Public funds must be spent on things that
                                   work.

                                   My plan will make sure that every school getting Title 1
                                   funds tests its disadvantaged students on the academic
                                   basics every year. The state, not the federal
                                   government, will choose and administer those tests. If
                                   the scores are improving - making progress toward the
                                   state standard - a school will be rewarded with a grant
                                   and special recognition. If the disadvantaged children in
                                   a school are not making progress, the school will be
                                   warned that it is failing. It will be given time to adjust,
                                   to reform, to change. But if, at the end of three years,
                                   there is still no progress, its Title 1 funds will be
                                   divided up, matched by other federal education money
                                   given to the state, and made directly available to
                                   parents - coming to about $1,500 per year. This money
                                   can then be used by students for tutoring, for a charter
                                   school, for a working public school in a different district,
                                   for a private school - for whatever parents choose. For
                                   whatever offers hope.

                                   States that want to pursue this kind of reform
                                   immediately will be free to do so. But eventually, in
                                   every case where a school does not teach and will not
                                   change, the status quo must be challenged. 

                                   The goal here is to strengthen public schools by
                                   expecting performance - to increase the number of
                                   schools where children are likely to learn. But if a
                                   school, with ample time to change, continues to fail,
                                   there must be some final point of accountability. Some
                                   moment of truth. In the best case, these schools will
                                   rise to the challenge and regain the confidence of
                                   parents. In the worst case, we will offer scholarships to
                                   America's neediest children, allowing them to get the
                                   emergency help they should have. In any case, the
                                   federal government will no longer pay schools to cheat
                                   poor children.

                                   The enormous frustration with public education in
                                   America leads to two temptations. One is to dictate
                                   local policies from Washington. But this is an approach
                                   that has been discredited by 30 years of failure. Our
                                   schools do not need more bureaucratic oversight, they
                                   need the pressure to perform and the freedom to
                                   change. Education, it's been said, is not the filling of a
                                   pail, it is the lighting of a fire. We need that spirit
                                   today, and no master plan of government can light it.

                                   But there is another temptation - to give up on public
                                   education entirely. To talk only of ending agencies or
                                   slashing programs. But this approach is too limited. One
                                   sixth of the American population is in public schools.
                                   The content of their education will determine the
                                   character of our country. Will America be prepared for
                                   the new economy? Will we have the informed citizens
                                   that self-government requires?

                                   At their best, America's public schools have been a
                                   source of shared ideals. They gave millions of
                                   immigrants a start in life and a dream to follow. They
                                   were united by a golden thread of principle: that
                                   everyone, if given a chance, could rise in the world and
                                   contribute to their country. In all its simplicity, that is
                                   still the mission and mandate of public education in
                                   America.

                                   A president does not bear responsibility for every policy
                                   in every school in every district. But every president
                                   must be the keeper of our common ideals. A president
                                   speaks for everyone. Not just for schools and those who
                                   run them. Not for one interest or ethnic group over
                                   another. Not for one class above the rest. A president -
                                   and sometimes only a president - can speak for the
                                   common good.

                                   Our common good is found in our common schools. And
                                   we must make those 

                                   schools worthy of all our children. Whatever their
                                   background, their cause is our cause, and it must not be
                                   lost.

                                   Thank you.


