My Life, by Bill Clinton: on Education
Bill Clinton:
Reasonable range of religious expression in schools
I signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was intended to protect a reasonable range of religious expression in public areas like schools and workplaces. The bill was designed to reverse a 1990 Supreme Court decision giving states more
authority to regulate religious expression in such areas. America is full of people deeply committed to their very diverse faiths. I thought the bill struck the right balance between protecting their rights and the need for public order.
Source: My Life, by Bill Clinton, p.558
Jun 21, 2004
Bill Clinton:
$15B in education aid to ‘support what works’
I proposed a large package of education reforms, arguing that we should change the way we spend the more than $15 billion a year of education aid to ‘support what works and stop supporting what doesn’t work,’ by requiring states to end social promotion,
turn around failing schools or shut them down. I again asked Congress to provide funds to build or modernize 5000 schools and to approve a six-fold increase in the number of college scholarships for students who commit to teaching in under-served areas.
Source: My Life, by Bill Clinton, p.843
Jun 21, 2004
Hillary Clinton:
1983: AR reforms fixed unconstitutional school financing
In May 1983, the Arkansas supreme court declared our school financing system unconstitutional. We had to write a new aid formula, then fund it. There were only two alternatives: take money away from the wealthiest districts and give it to the poorest and
fastest-growing ones, or raise enough new revenues so that we could equalize funding. Since no district wanted to lose money, the court decision gave us the best opportunity we'd ever have to raise taxes for education.Hillary's committee held hearings
in every county in the state, getting recommendations from educators and the public. Her report recommended to both raise the sales tax and approve "standards which, when implemented, will be among the nation's best."
Hillary made a brilliant
presentation, prompting one Representative to say, "It looks like we might have elected the wrong Clinton!" We had opposition from the anti-tax crowd; rural school districts that feared they couldn't meet the standards; and the AEA teacher's union.
Source: My Life, by Bill Clinton, p.308-311
Jun 21, 2004
Lamar Alexander:
1985: Raised state taxes to improve education
The summer governors' conference, held in Idaho, was marked by an unusual partisan fight over a fund-raising letter for the Republican governors signed by President Reagan. The letter took some hard shots at their Democratic colleagues for being too
liberal with tax-and-spend policies, a violation of our unwritten commitment to keep the governors' meetings bipartisan. The Democrats were so angry we threatened to block the election of Republican governor Lamar Alexander of Tennessee to the
chairmanship of the National Governors Association, normally a routine action since he was the vice chair and the chairmanship rotated by party every year. I liked Lamar and doubted he had his heart in the attack on his Democratic colleagues; after all,
he, too, had raised taxes to fund higher school standards. I helped to broker a resolution to the conflict, in which the Republicans apologized for the letter & said they wouldn't do it again, an we voted for Lamar for chairman. I was elected vice chair.
Source: My Life, by Bill Clinton, p.319
Jun 21, 2004
Page last updated: Feb 19, 2019