George W. Bush on Education President of the United States, Former Republican Governor (TX)

Sub-sections under Education:
• Accountability
• College
• Education Spending
• No Child Left Behind
• School Choice
• Other issues under Education

Use federal government as lever for local reform

NCLB is one of the great modern domestic policy successes. Because of NCLB, reading scores for 9-year-olds have improved more in the last nine years than in the previous twenty-eight years combined, and math scores have reached record highs.

NCLB also changed the conversation about education. There's less talk now about money and more about how children are doing; less talk about feel-good pedagogy and more about what works, such as phonics.

But the education establishment continues to look down on NCLB. Many complain that the law forces educators to "teach to the test." Well, if it is a

Education is the civil rights struggle of our time

Issues are also ways for people to understand a candidate's character and values. For example, when Bush said education was the civil rights struggle of our time or that the absence of an accountability system in our schools meant black, brown, poor, and rural children were getting left behind, it gave listeners important information about his respect and concern for every family and deepened the impression that he was a different kind of Republican whom suburban voters could be proud to support.

As Texas Gov., made reading initiative a top priority

One happened after a meeting with the Texas Education Agency staff, who'd come to report that 33,000 children had failed the 3rd-grade minimum reading skills exam. This test was at the "see Spot run" level. When he asked what happened to the children, the bureaucrats told the governor that 29,000 of them had been passed to the 4th grade. It made Bush mad because he understood a child who doesn't learn to read by th 3rd grade cannot possibly succeed. The meeting helped convince him to make a reading initiative a top priority.

As he later traveled the state to whip up support for it, an elderly teacher lectured him that it would fail because, as she put it, "Governor, there are just some kids who can't learn to read." Her implication was that this was because their skin color was different. That just made Bush mad as hell. After that, nothing was going to stand in the way of getting this proposal done.

Signing statement: No independent research on education

Nov. 5, 2002: Creates an Institute of Education Sciences whose director may conduct and publish research ‘’without the approval of the secretary“ of education.

Bush’s signing statement: The president has the power to control the actions of all executive branch officials, so ”the Institute of Education Sciences shall be subject to the direction of the secretary of education.

Propose additional resources for education

Reading is the new civil right

Required Texas schools to teach phonics over whole language

[As governor in 1995, Bush] understood there was empirical, scientific evidence that could help Texas make better decisions about how we teach kids to read. By then, “science” had become a code word for phonics. But the educational establishment was so fanatically wedded to the whole-language method [so proponents] referred to what the “science” had found about reading.

Bush devised legislation that would tie Texas state funding to use of a reading method whose efficacy had been proven, meaning phonics. To create more accountability, schools that did not improve were penalized.

Progressing towards excellence for every child

But the status quo always has defenders. Some want to undermine the No Child Left Behind Act by weakening standards and accountability. Yet the results we require are really a matter of common sense: We expect third-graders to read and do math at the third-grade level. That’s not asking too much.

Testing is the only way to identify and help students who are falling behind. This nation will not go back to the days of simply shuffling children along from grade to grade without them learning the basics. I refuse to give up on any child. And the No Child Left Behind Act is opening the door of opportunity to all of America’s children.

Jobs for the 21st Century: more high school help

I propose larger Pell Grants for students who prepare for college with demanding courses in high school. I propose increasing support for America’s fine community colleges, so they can train workers for industries that are creating the most new jobs. By all these actions, we will help more and more Americans to join in the growing prosperity of our country.

Reading First program successful

Public schools are America’s great hope

Commitments: testing; local control; federal help; options

Real education reform reflects 4 basic commitments:
1. Children must be tested every year in reading and math, every single year. I oppose a national test, because it would undermine local control of schools and undermine state curricula. But states should test each student each year.
2. The agents of reform must be schools and school districts, not bureaucracy. One size does not fit all. Educational entrepreneurs should not be hindered by excessive rules and red tape and regulation.
3. Many of our schools, particularly low-income schools, will need help in the transition to higher standards. When a state sets standards, we must help schools achieve those standards. We must measure. We must know. And if a school or school district falls short, we must understand that help should be applied.
4. American children must not be left in persistently dangerous or failing schools. When schools do not teach and will not change, parents and students must have other meaningful options.

Dedicated to TX education, plus Laura's reading initiatives

In addition to his impressive performance in the context of the Legislature on education issues, he has used the bully pulpit, one of the few real powers of his office. In 1998 alone he made 47 speeches on education, almost one a week. Schools are easily his favorite campaign photo op, but he also visits them to dramatize education issues even when he's not running. He enjoys fielding the wacky questions kids ask. Another player who deserves credit here is Bush's wife, Laura. She is a former librarian who has chosen reading as her particular concern, the one she promotes in her role as first lady of the state.

Poor kids can’t read; now is the time to teach them

Announcer: “The Bush education agenda:
• Reform Head Start,
• focus on reading,
• restore local control,
• triple funding for character education,
• hold schools accountable for results.

End the soft bigotry of low expectations in our schools

“Silver Scholarships” for kids from seniors who volunteer

Character education grants & American Youth Character Awards

Zero tolerance on disruption, guns, & school safety

• Establish Project Sentry, a federal-state partnership to prosecute juveniles who bring guns to school or use them illegally and the adults who provide guns
• Expect states and districts to establish a zero tolerance policy on disruption, empowering teachers to remove violent or persistently disruptive students from the classroom
• Enact a Teacher Protection Act to shield teachers, principals, and school board members from meritless lawsuits arising from their efforts to maintain discipline
• Require states and districts to provide all students in persistently dangerous schools with the option of transferring to a safe school
• Hold states and districts receiving federal School Safety funds accountable for measuring and demonstrating improved safety
• Call for a uniform reporting system on school safety and publish the results widely
• Lift barriers to information being shared between schools and law enforcement agencies

‘Reading First’ confronts a national emergency

Saying America must confront a national emergency, Governor Bush proposed targeting $5 billion during a five-year period to fund diagnosis of reading problems, teacher training and intervention programs to help disadvantaged children learn to read. I propose a new program called ‘Reading First,’“ Bush said. ”Reading First sets a great goal for America: that every child will read by the end of the third grade.“ The new reading initiative includes:
• Early diagnosis of reading skills in kindergarten and first grade ($5 million per year) to determine which students need help;
• Teacher training in research-based reading instruction for kindergarten and first grade teachers ($90 million per year), and
• Intervention funds to help children learn through research-based programs such as tutoring, after-school programs or summer school programs ($1,000 per child for an estimated 900,000 children; $900 million per year).

Freedom & flexibility in return for high standards & results

If poor kids don’t learn, give school funds to parents

Leave no child behind: reform Title I & Head Start

Bush’s public school reform plan includes:
• Overhauling Title I, a $7.7 billion federal educational program for poor children, requiring schools to test students on academic basics.
• Improving Head Start to make sure that it is an early learning and education program that prepares young children to succeed academically. All Head Start programs will be evaluated and renewal contracts will only be given to those who use the curriculum to prepare the children. Those who don’t will be discontinued and the contract will be open to competitive bid.
• Expand local control of schools by giving states new freedom and flexibility in return for results. Bush’s reforms would consolidate most of the current 60 Elementary and Secondary Education Act programs into five flexible categories.

Evolution & creationism both valid; let states decide

As child, discovered that his younger brother was dyslexic

"Dyslexia, back in those days, was not well known," George W. later said. "Mother worked hard with Neil, disciplining, training, encouraging. She was the one who really spent time making sure that Neil could learn to read the basics."

"I look back on those years in West Texas," Barbara recalled, "and I wonder how I would have ever made it without my oldest son. There was never any groaning or moaning on his part. I probably put more responsibility on him than I should have, especially for a boy his age," she confessed. "But whom else could I turn to, with his father gone so much in those days? He was my Rock of Gibraltar. Plain and simple, and because of that, we have a very special relationship."

Teachers’ unions obstacle to school innovation

Teach values and moral responsibility in schools

Raise standards and focus on results for our schools

Pushed standardized testing as a top legislative priority

Under Bush’s proposal, schools would be required to make steady progress toward raising proficiency, with all students required to reach state-defined acceptable levels by 2014. Schools deemed failing for two consecutive years would have to begin to allow students to transfer to better schools. After a third year of failing, they could use public money to hire private firms to tutor students. If a school continued to fail, it had to replace its principal and teachers or reopen as a charter school. Bush wanted vouchers so parents could send their kids to such schools.

Local control is core principle of successful education

Teaching to the Test is good, if testing basics

They talk about “teaching to the test.” But let’s put that logic to the test. If you test a child on basic math and reading skills, and you’re “teaching to the test,” you’re teaching math and reading. And that’s the whole idea.

Time for real reform, not work around the edges

Both parties have been talking about education reform for quite a while. It’s time to come together to get it done, so that we can truthfully say in America: No child will be left behind, not one single child.
• We must confront the scandal of illiteracy in America, seen most clearly in high-poverty schools where nearly 70% of fourth-graders are unable to read at a basic level.
• We must address the low standing of American test scores amongst industrialized nations in math and science, the very subjects most likely to affect our future competitiveness.
• We must focus the spending of federal tax dollars on things that work. Too often, we have spent without regard for results, without judging success or failure from year to year.
• We must face up to the plague of school violence.
• Change will not come by adding a few new federal programs to the old. If we work only at the edges, our influence will be confined to the margins. We need real reform.

TX test score improvements not reflected on national tests

Bush aides denounced the study as an “opinion paper” and called the findings “highly suspect,” pointing to a three-year Rand study released last summer that showed Texas test scores had dramatically improved between 1990 and 1996.

The new study analyzed a different set of data, which focused on the time Bush had been governor, 1994 to 1998.

Focus on responsibility and parents, not on federal spending

Bush would spend less than Gore and talks more about standardized tests and holding schools responsible:
• favors leaving teacher certification requirements to the states
• would offer a $2.3 billion tax incentive to expand education savings accounts, allowing $5,000 contributions annually and tax-free withdrawals
• wants to make federal funding contingent on states’ giving standardized tests in math and reading and publishing results for 3rd through 8th grades

Improve education with local control, accountability

Hold schools accountable and teach character

If you get federal money, you must return measurements

Test every grade every year & publish results

• Supports state accountability systems in which students are tested every year in grades 3-8 in reading and math
• States will be free to choose their own tests, and the federal government will equally share the cost
• Supports paying for states to participate in an annual National Assessment in Education Progress sample exam in reading and math
• Supports empowering parents with information by requiring states to publish school-by-school report cards with annual test results

Link block grants & vouchers to student testing

State should enforce standards, not micromanage schools

Develop tests locally - no national tests

Help failing students pass - without social promotion

Increase the size of Pell grants

We will help an additional 200,000 workers to get training for a better career by reforming our job training system and strengthening America’s community colleges. And we will make it easier for Americans to afford a college education by increasing the size of Pell grants.

We’ve increased Pell Grants by a million students

KERRY: But you know why the Pell Grants have gone up in their numbers? Because more people qualify for them because they don’t have money. But they’re not getting the $5,100 the president promised them. They’re getting less money. We have more people who qualify. That’s not what we want.

Community college provides the skills to people to fill jobs

KERRY: Bush’s cut job training money-$1 billion was cut, they only added a little bit back this year because it’s an election year. They’ve cut the Pell Grants and the Perkins Loans to help kids be able to go to college. They’ve cut the training money.

$25B over 10 years for reading, Pell Grants, & charters

Bush’s educational spending plan:
• $24.8 billion over ten years, including:
• $5 billion to help disadvantaged students in K-2 learn how to read
• $6 billion to increase Pell Grants to first-year college students and high achievers in math and science in high school
• $2 billion to help train and recruit teachers
• $300 million in loan guarantees for charter schools

$1.5B for state merit scholarships to college

$275M for pre-paid college tuition tax credits

$1.3B to help students in college-prep math & science

Only a liberal would say 49% more funding isn’t enough

BUSH: Only a liberal senator from Massachusetts would say that a 49 percent increase in funding for education was not enough. But more importantly, we’ve reformed the system to make sure that we solve problems early. He talked about the unemployed. Absolutely we’ve got to make sure they get educated. He talked about children whose parents don’t speak English as a first language? Absolutely we’ve got to make sure they get educated. And that’s what the No Child Left Behind Act does.

Will fund early intervention programs to help high-schoolers

$5,000 Grants for poor students in math & sciences

Increased per-student funding by almost 60%

Increased school funding by $11B since taking office

Feds give 6% of money; but 60% for “paperwork-filler-outer”

BUSH: I have been the governor of a big state; I’ve made education my number one priority. That’s what governors ought to do. They ought to say this is the most important thing we do as a state. The federal government puts about 6% of the money up. They put about 60% of the strings, where you got to fill out paperwork. [A teacher] has to be a paperwork-filler-outer, most of it’s because of the federal government. What I want to do is to send flexibility and authority to the local folks so you can choose what to do with the money. One size does not fit all. I’d worry about federalizing education, if I were you.

The federal government can be a part, but don’t fall prey to all this talk about money here and money there because education is really funded at the local level; 94% comes from the local level.

$900M to improve Indian schools

$400M more for after-school programs, via block grants

$5B reading program; mixing phonics & literature

$2B for teachers; mandates are optional

$400 deductible when teachers spend own money on classrooms

Expand Education Savings Accounts to $5000 per year

Bush proposed:
• Establishing a Charter School Homestead Fund with $3 billion in federal loan guarantees to help launch 2,000 new charter schools.
• Consolidating 60 types of federal education grants into five.
• Requiring state participation in the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federal program that tests a random sampling of students every two to four years.

OpEd: NCLB is right idea but under-funded & over-complicated

The problems with the No Child Left Behind law are myriad. Several come to mind right off the bat: its dependence on standardized test scores; linking merit pay to test scores; and the goal of achieving 100% proficiency by 2014 is totally unrealistic.

Another huge problem with NCLB that many supporters of the law ignore is that it places no consequences on the students who do not meet proficiency levels. Not once has Governor Christie or any other politician called out students who, in some cases, do not make any attempt at learning. And Christie continually boasts that he tells it like it is.

NCLB: focus on accountability instead of spending

Under No Child Left Behind, states would test students in reading and math. Schools would post scores publicly, broken down by ethnicity, income level, and other subcategories. The data would allow parents and concerned citizens to evaluate schools, teachers, and curricula. Schools that scored below standards would receive extra help at first. But if schools repeatedly failed to make adequate progress, there would be consequences. Parents would have the option to transfer their child to a better-performing public or charter school. The principle was straightforward: You cannot solve a problem until you diagnose it. Accountability would serve as a catalyst for reform.

No Child Left Behind resonated with parents' natural desire

That's different from asking, What do I need to educate voters about? For example, in Bush's 2000 campaign, we targeted suburban couples with children. Many of these voters had defected to Clinton in 1992 or 1996; some had simply stayed home. Bush's focus on No Child Left Behind and education reform resonated with their natural desire to want the best for their children and the inclination of many of these voters to see a quality education for other children as a social good.

2000: Targeted suburban couples with children via NCLB

That's different from asking, What do I need to educate voters about? For example, in Bush's 2000 campaign, we targeted suburban couples with children. Many of these voters had defected to Clinton in 1992 or 1996; some had simply stayed home. Bush's focus on No Child Left Behind and education reform resonated with their natural desire to want the best for their children and the inclination of many of these voters to see a quality education for other children as a social good.

NCLB: Dropped state flexibility to garner Dem support

Had the president tried to pressure me to withdraw my amendment, it would have been easy for me to say "no." But I'm a sucker for gentle persuasion. The president promised that if I withdrew my amendment, he would make sure the state flexibility provision would be added back at some point. I agreed to withdraw the amendment. The president said "trust me" when he promised the provision would be added back, but it never happened.

OpEd: NCLB's "teach the test" results in poorer education

President Bush thought the requirements to measure programs in No Child Left Behind would improve schools. They didn't. In fact, many teachers tell me the effort to "teach the test" in order to meet the requirements of NCLB is actually resulting in poor education. I don't have to recount the terrible statistics of America's education systems. We are losing ground to practically every other industrialized country in the world. At a time when our workforce has to compete with the best and brightest workers in a dynamic and competitive global economy, we are failing our children by keeping them in a government-run, socialist system.

FactCheck: Yes, NCLB has raised test scores

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the president is correct that scores, generally, have gone up since the enactment of No Child Left Behind.

However, Bush omitted some recent backsliding: scores for eighth-grade students are only slightly up from the first recorded year and are not the highest on record. The highest scores for eighth graders in reading were scored in 2002, and they have gone down a bit since then. The same applies to other grades and to other subgroups including African-American and Hispanic students.

NCLB has raised scores; now give more local flexibility

Now the task is to build on this success, without watering down standards, without taking control from local communities and without backsliding and calling it reform. We can lift student achievement even higher by giving local leaders flexibility to turn around failing schools and by giving families with children stuck in failing schools the right to choose something better. We must increase funds for students who struggle--and make sure these children get the special help they need. The No Child Left Behind Act has worked for America’s children--and I ask Congress to reauthorize this good law.

No Child Left Behind Act implements phonics nationally

Fact Check: NCLB increased school funding, but shy by $5.4B

BUSH: By passing the No Child Left Behind Act you have made the expectation of literacy the law of our country. We are providing more funding for our schools-a 36% increase since 2001. We are requiring higher standards.

FACTCHECK: It is true that federal funding for education has increased sharply since Bush took office, as even his critics concede. But it is also true that Bush’s new requirements for student testing impose large costs on state and local governments and that Bush hasn’t pushed the Republican Congress for the full amounts authorized by the No Child Left Behind Act. The National Education Association estimated the shortfall at $5.4 billion last year, and even a GOP senator, Olympia Snowe of Maine, said last year, “It leaves us open to the charge of unfunded mandates.”

“No Child Left Behind” increases accountability

$300M for Pell Grants for Kids for non-public schools

We must do more to help children when their schools do not measure up. Thanks to the DC Opportunity Scholarships you approved, more than 2,600 of the poorest children in our nation’s Capital have found new hope at a faith-based or other non-public school. Sadly, these schools are disappearing at an alarming rate in many of America’s inner cities. So I will convene a White House summit aimed at strengthening these lifelines of learning. And to open the doors of these schools to more children, I ask you to support a new $300 million program called Pell Grants for Kids. We have seen how Pell Grants help low-income college students realize their full potential. Together, we’ve expanded the size and reach of these grants. Now let us apply that same spirit to help liberate poor children trapped in failing public schools.

Give options for kids trapped in failing schools

Increased funding to $200M for charter schools

Favors rigorous testing over school choice

It often looked to conservatives as if Bush were surrendering treasured principles in order to obtain deals that were not really worth having. When he gave up the choice provisions of his education bill, many conservatives decided that he was putting politics ahead of principle. But for Bush, getting things done was a principle.

Parents & children must have other options when schools fail

Parents and children who have only bad options must eventually get good options if we’re to succeed all across the country. There are differences of opinions about what those options should be. I made my opinion very clear in the course of the campaign. I’m going to take my opinion to the Hill and let folks debate it.

Today I was pleased to see that Senator Joe Lieberman brought up his plan that includes different options for parents. It’s a great place to begin. He and I understand that an accountability system must have a consequence, otherwise it’s not much of an accountability system.

Pushes OPTIONS for private schools; without saying VOUCHERS

Throughout the campaign year, Bush said schools whose students do not show acceptable rates of improvement on test scores would be given every opportunity to turn their failure rates around. After three years, if failure rates do not improve significantly, much of the federal money earmarked for the struggling schools would be broken apart and distributed to parents in the form of payments-or vouchers, according to some critics-that may be used to transfer students to private schools or more successful local schools.

Vouchers are up to states; allow local control

BUSH: First of all, vouchers are up to states. If you want to do a voucher program in Missouri, fine. I’m a governor of a state and I don’t like it when the federal government tell us what to do. I believe in local control of schools.

GORE: Under your plan, Governor Bush, states would be required to pay vouchers to students, to match the vouchers that the federal government would put up. Under his plan, if a school was designated as failing, the kids would be trapped there for another three years, and then some of them would get federal vouchers, and the state would be forced to match that money.

Allow “charter states” as well as charter schools

Bush is keener than Gore on structural reform based on parental choice. He tried to introduce vouchers in Texas, but failed. He would:
• Force failing schools to improve their performance with the sick of being closed down (after a 3-year period) and the carrot of getting more money.
• Schools that receive federal money for educating poor children will be given three years to improve their performance. Students at schools that fail will be given “exit vouchers” (worth an average of $1,500) for use at public or private schools of their choice.
• Allow states (as opposed to schools) to become “charter states”: in return for a promise to improve the achievements of poor children, they will have more freedom from regulation.

One size does not fit all in education

When a school district receives federal funds to teach poor children, we expect them to learn. And if they don’t, parents should get the money to make a different choice.

And now is the time to make Head Start an early learning program, teach all our children to read, and renew the promise of America’s public schools.

Money from failed schools can go to charters or tutors too

Tax money to religious schools OK, if they’re teaching kids

A: No. I don’t at all. What I have trouble with is people accepting failure, with people turning a blind eye to the fact that schools are not teaching children. And I also have trouble with the federal government mandating school systems to behave one way or the other. The best way to encourage excellence is to free people to innovate. The federal government should not mandate choice and charters.

Profit-making schools OK, as long as kids learn

A: Here’s my question: are the children learning? So much of the debate is focused on process. I’m going to focus the debate on results and accountability. If the children are meeting standards, we ought to applaud the delivery mechanism. I welcome all kinds of innovation into the system, recognizing that one size doesn’t fit all, and understanding that the best reforms are those that have been tried at the local level.

Fund 2,000 charter schools; defund failing schools

• Called for the creation of charter [schools] that would receive maximum flexibility with federal funds in return for meeting high performance measures in increasing student achievement
• Supports increasing choices for parents in the education of their children by allowing federal funds to be used for public and private school choice and innovative education programs
• Supports expanding education savings accounts for parents to increase their annual contributions from $500 per student to $5,000 and withdraw funds tax free to pay for education expenses from Kindergarten to college
• Supports establishing a Charter School Homestead Fund to provide $3 billion of loan guarantees to help establish or improve 2,000 charter schools nationwide in two years
• Supports giving parents of Title I students trapped in persistently failing schools federal education dollars in a portable account to use in a school or program of their choice

Don’t subsidize problems in schools; solve them

If schools fail for 3 years, funding becomes “portable”

$3 billion for Charter School Fund

School decisions by parents, not federal judges

Let poor people choose their schools, like rich people do

1994: Created nation's first Home Rule School Districts

Although the legislature decontrolled schools, created the 1st "home rule school districts" in the nation, granted educators more authority to remove disruptive or violent students from the classroom, made excellence in the core subjects the goal of public education, and increased the minimum pay for teachers, Governor Bush did not get his wish to increase the state share of public school funding from 44 to 60%.

Supports vouchers, including private or religious schools.

Vouchers tied to “accountability system”

“Home rule” with state standards

Voted NO on additional $10.2B for federal education & HHS projects.

Proponents support voting YES because:

Rep. OBEY: This bill, more than any other, determines how willing we are to make the investment necessary to assure the future strength of this country and its working families. The President has chosen to cut the investments in this bill by more than $7.5 billion in real terms. This bill rejects most of those cuts.

Opponents recommend voting NO because:

Rep. LEWIS: This bill reflects a fundamental difference in opinion on the level of funding necessary to support the Federal Government's role in education, health and workforce programs. The bill is $10.2 billion over the President's budget request. While many of these programs are popular on both sides of the aisle, this bill contains what can rightly be considered lower priority and duplicative programs. For example, this legislation continues three different programs that deal with violence prevention. An omnibus bill is absolutely the wrong and fiscally reckless approach to completing this year's work. It would negate any semblance of fiscal discipline demonstrated by this body in recent years.

Veto message from President Bush:

This bill spends too much. It exceeds [by $10.2 billion] the reasonable and responsible levels for discretionary spending that I proposed to balance the budget by 2012. This bill continues to fund 56 programs that I proposed to terminate because they are duplicative, narrowly focused, or not producing results. This bill does not sufficiently fund programs that are delivering positive outcomes. This bill has too many earmarks--more than 2,200 earmarks totaling nearly $1 billion. I urge the Congress to send me a fiscally responsible bill that sets priorities.