The Crisis Now at Hand - Texas Education Association Mid-Winter Conference

This time last year I stood before you here in Austin—as your new Governor—and I outlined my hopes for the future of education

in Texas. I was not happy with the status quo. I know you and other Texans were not either. I promised to work with the

legislature to enact profound changes in the way our youngsters are educated.

Those changes I proposed were based on two fundamental principles. First, that education is to a state what national defense

is to the federal government—our Number One priority and most urgent challenge. Second, that local communities must be free

to teach what works best in their schools. The state, I said, should not dictate. The state's role—and my role as Governor—is to

set clear goals and hold local districts accountable for achieving them.

Since I last saw you we have accomplished a great deal. The 74th legislature—in a remarkable show of bipartisanship—passed

a new education code that is both strong and flexible. It is strong because it sets goals and holds districts accountable for

achieving them, and it is flexible because it lets local folks chart their own course to excellence. I like to say Senate Bill 1 offers

a menu of opportunity—for example, you can choose charter schools, open-enrollment campuses or home rule education

districts. You can choose what works in your schools.

The new law came about because the Texas Legislature and I believe that the education of our children is one of the most

sacred duties entrusted to us all. Our children are the faces of our future. So I know you share my deep concern when I say

that nothing stands to disrupt that future quite like the crisis now at hand: Too many Texas school children cannot read.

The crisis is obvious in the numbers. Last year, one in four Texas school children who took the state reading test failed. That's

350,000 children who do not have the basic skill to learn. 90,000 of them were third and fourth graders -- an at-risk population

in the making.

The crisis is obvious in our classrooms. I was deeply affected recently by the true story of Nelson Brown, a history teacher at

Sam Houston High School in Houston. Last fall he gave his students a vocabulary test that should have been a breeze. But

most of Nelson's students could not define half the words because—as he discovered - - they could not read and they could not

understand. Here are some of the words that so confused Nelson's students: Mask, flatter, exercise and turnip. When asked

to define futile, 80% of the students chose the wrong answer --- almost a third thought it meant "shocking."

What is shocking is that there are Texas teenagers who are so illiterate they can't figure out the word rut—which was the case

with three-fourths of Nelson's students. Think about it—we've got high schoolers well on their way to getting stuck in a 3-letter

noun they can't even comprehend.

This crisis is also obvious in our society. Children who never master reading will never master learning. Many will drop out of

school. As uneducated adults, they face a life of frustration and failure on the fringes of society. Large numbers turn to crime

and wind up in prison. Many others eventually join the welfare rolls. In study after study the empirical evidence is deafening:

You cannot succeed if you cannot read.

Last year, we spent more than 18 billion dollars on our public schools. This year, we will spend another 21 billion— more than the

total budget of many other states. Yet we still have hundreds of thousands of students educationally hamstrung because they

are missing the one skill that can make all the difference in their lives—reading. This is inexcusable.

Reading is to the mind what food is to the body. Nothing is more basic or more essential. And—in this administration -- nothing is

going to take a higher priority.

That is why, today, I am here to set the clearest and most profound goal I have for Texas: Every child—each and every

child—must learn to read.

My goal is for our children to read on grade level by the end of third grade, and then we must keep them reading on grade

level throughout their public school careers. If children come to first grade able to read, great! We will help them become

advanced readers. If they come to school unable to read, then we must teach them to read. If students have been promoted

when they are not capable of doing the work—then we must stop and instruct those students—and bring them up to grade level

or better.

I am talking about every Texas child. It does not matter where children live or how much money their families earn. It does not

matter whether they grow up in foster care or a two-parent family. In Texas, all our children are going to learn the basic skill on

which the rest of their lives depend. I want to raise the bar for every child.

As educators, you will play a crucial role in achieving this goal. And here is what your Governor and Education Commissioner

and state are ready to do to help you succeed.

We will target almost all of our 29 million dollars of Academics 2000 federal money to teach reading and basic skills from

kindergarten through fourth grade. Some of that money will be used as an incentive to reward results.

We will improve teacher training. Another one million dollar federal grant will fund a center for training and development -- to

help teachers do a better job of teaching reading skills.

As part of my budget for next session, I will ask the Legislature to appropriate $35 million to start reading academies—intensive

reading skills programs within our schools.

The Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund board is making elementary reading a top priority when it distributes its funds

every year for the next 10 years for computers and technology in our schools.

Next year, the Texas Education Agency will make available a diagnostic tool for districts to help you measure your young

children's reading ability—you cannot solve the problem until you identify it.

I will also rally volunteers from the private sector and the corporate community—I will let Texans know this is a top priority and I

want their support. I have begun meeting with business leaders, challenging them to follow the example of companies such as

Texas Instruments and others who are giving of their time and dollars to teach reading in our schools.

A couple of First Ladies I know well have already responded to the call. Mother and Laura will join me tomorrow in Houston to

announce a Texas-based Barbara Bush Foundation literacy initiative for school children and their families.

The Dana Center at the University of Texas and the O'Donnell Foundation are funding a program to put interactive children's

books on the Texas Education Network -- the internet for schools. Your community may have a program that works. Starting

today, Texans can call a toll free number to give us your ideas or to ask for help. That number is 1-800-819-5713. And I know

Texans want to help. I know Texans have a lot to offer.

Recently, I heard about a woman in Port Arthur who became alarmed because so many children were failing first grade.

She—with the help of the community—mobilized teams of retirees to go into at- risk elementary schools and teach reading and

other skills. The program—called Experience Corps—has now won private funding and national attention. And it all started

because that one woman—Roxanne Smith Parks—believed that what Texans can dream Texans can do.

That can-do, innovative spirit is exactly what it will take from all of us to resolve this crisis. I've told you what the state is

prepared to do. Now my challenge to you is to go back to your communities and teach our children to read.

Here are some ideas to consider:

Use the flexibility of Senate Bill 1. Be creative, be innovative. Use that menu of opportunity—whether you set up skills centers or

mini- schools or extended-day reading classes or one-on-one tutoring. I hope you use your new-found freedom to promote

reading.

You should consider new ways to structure your class days. I hope you recognize that some children may need more time to

learn to read—some may need to spend the entire morning or most of the day focused on reading.

As you design your reading programs, you may need to gauge your students' reading skills as early as kindergarten. Diagnose

the problems so you can cure them.

As you plan your budgets, target money for reading. To meet our goal, look at the crisis we face, then look at your budget and

make reading a priority.

I know there is a vigorous debate going on right now about the best way to teach children. My interest is not the means, it is

the results. If drills get the job done, then rote is right. If it is necessary to teach reading all day long— fine by me.

The state of Texas and the Governor will not dictate how you should teach. But we will take our responsibility to measure your

progress very seriously. We expect the TAAS reading scores to show continued improvement toward our goal—that every child

must read on grade level.

Some may say this goal—for our children to read on grade level, for our children to be literate—is too simple and is too obvious.

But if you are ice skating on a lake and you see a crack rippling your direction, you do not need to fall into the freezing water

to recognize the danger. There is a crack in our schools swallowing the very students we are counting on to carry us into the

next century and beyond. We have talked about it. We have measured its speed. Analyzed its harmful effects. And have

invented new ways to skate around it.

Now it is time to do something really revolutionary: Do something about it. Get back to the shore where the footing is solid.

Back to the basics—the building blocks of knowledge that were the same yesterday and will be the same tomorrow. We do not

need trendy new theories or fancy experiments or feel-good curriculums. The basics work.

And nothing is more basic than reading. Every child in Texas must read at grade level. Every one of us must do what we can

to make this happen. That means parents, as well, must take responsibility for their part in shaping their children's futures. The

parents are a child's first teacher; the home a child's first classroom. I urge Texans to give their children the tools to start

learning early—introduce them to books as babies. Keep reading to them as they grow. We must nurture their dreams by helping

them learn to read. I challenge all Texas parents to develop families of learners by reading with their children a half hour a day,

at least three times a week.

Read children's classics, read the Bible, read the newspaper. Read whatever interests your family. A child who can read has

a better shot at learning—at life—at achieving dreams. That is what we want for them—a fair shot at the best possible future. I

refuse to believe that—in a state as great as Texas—we can master rocket science but not reading scores. I know we can teach

our children to read. But it will take all of us working together.

So join me—in our communities, in our schools, in our homes—and let's make this year one for the books.

Thank you and God bless Texas.