Strengthening Our Public Schools and Reaffirming Opportunity for All

By Rep. Dick Gephardt
Saturday, December 20, 2003
Henniker, NH

"Today I would like to talk with you about an issue that has rarely strayed from the center of our national debate. The quality of our nation's schools and the education we hand down to our children is no small matter. In fact, it's our highest calling.

"People often say that 'no one is against good schools.' And, of course, it's true. No matter where you live, how much you earn, or where you fall on the racial and ethnic divide, we all share the highest aspirations for our children. And we all benefit from an educated society. But, like most things in life, there can be great differences of opinion on how we reach our goals, or even what those goals should be. The differences on how to best teach our children grow, not from malice toward some, but from the difficulty in having concern for all.

"'I can't worry about everyone's children,' some would say. 'It's hard enough just worrying about mine.' In a world of increased competition for jobs and economic stability, this perspective might be understandable. But that doesn't make it right.

"We live in an age when parents and children are stretched to their limits and there's not enough time in the day to curl up with your child in their favorite corner and play a quiet game of imagination. Or if they're a little older, there's rarely time to even just talk. Instead, it's easy to be distracted by the frenzy of life and to think that everything is a race to the finish. And that educating our children is just one more competition that they have to win, because in many respects, they do.

"I believe this is why the stature of public education has subtly but surely changed over the last generation. The debate has shifted from 'How do we improve our public schools?' to 'What is our true commitment to our public schools?' And that is greatly unfortunate. Never mind the issue of vouchers and private schools for a moment. Look no further than the debate over 'school choice' and the ability of some but not all parents to drive their children across town to another public school.

"I have always supported the ideal that parents should be able to choose the school that best fits their child, assuming that all schools are equal in excellence. But this administration and the Republican Congress have twisted this ideal into an excuse. Rather than support a struggling school, they tell parents to cut and run.

"What have we come to when it's acceptable to encourage parents to abandon their child's school, while leaving families of less means behind? And what have we come to when one public school is more valued than another by an administration that sees everything through a prism of haves and have-nots. This erosion of public support for one school, then another, then another has only one ultimate end. And that is the deliberate end of public education as we know it.

"After years of unrelenting criticism and distortion, people are beginning to believe that most public schools are failing and the only solution is privatization. Well, the truth is the vast majority of public schools are succeeding with first-rate teachers and principals who care deeply about their students. Yes, there is always room for improvement and some schools are deeply troubled. But I think we need a president who starts from the premise that public education is working, because it is, rather than public education is failing, because it's not.

"Opponents of our public schools have long hidden behind code words like 'states rights' which sounds admirable until you know the meaning behind the words. And parents, desperate for any small advantage for their child, are forced by false choices to turn inward for the benefit of one, rather than outward for the betterment of all. And this bitter choice is a source of great unease in this country.

"I remember a different time, and so do many of you. As some of you know, I was born into a labor household where life was far from easy. My father was a Teamster who delivered milk door to door and my mother was a secretary. Neither of them finished high school. They worked hard just to feed their children and pay their mortgage. But even despite great economic hardship, there was enough time in the day to raise their children in a home filled with God and love and attention. And there was a great equalizer just down the street - Mason Elementary School, our neighborhood public school. It didn't matter where you came from, who your parents were, or how much they earned. Every child at Mason Elementary School was given a first-rate education and a chance to prove themselves and reach their potential.

"Everything was not perfect at Mason Elementary. At that time in the 1950s, we still had a great distance to go in the struggle for civil rights and separate but equal was far too prevalent across our country. But there was a shared understanding within the community that every child deserved the best possible education. And that by offering opportunity to all, all would benefit.

"For generations, this had been the bedrock principle of our system of public education. Rather than a closed network of private institutions rooted in aristocracy and privilege, from the beginning, our country had deliberately chosen the path of education for all. Learning is the ultimate expression of individual liberty, and our country has always depended on liberated minds.

"It's why, from my earliest years in public office, I have always been an unrelenting advocate for public education. From writing the High Skills Competitive Workforce Act setting high standards of excellence to sponsoring the Parents as Teachers program to increase parental involvement in our schools, I have always sought to raise the bar for public education.

"As Democratic Leader, I was at the forefront of every major battle over education funding. And I'm proud of our record. I've battled to protect Head Start from repeated Republican attempts to cut this vital program. I successfully fought Newt Gingrich's efforts to eliminate the Department of Education and pass the largest education cuts in history. And I led the fight to hire 100,000 new teachers in seven years with the Class Size Reduction Initiative.

"During the Clinton presidency, we increased funding for public education every year. We reduced class sizes, renovated classrooms all across this country, and expanded after-school programs and early education like Head Start. We made a significant investment in public education even at a time when balancing the national budget was a paramount priority.

"Every step of the way, we've had to fight Republican efforts to shift federal funding away from public schools to private institutions. And over the last three years, Republicans have been successful at reversing many of the gains we made during the Clinton presidency. Further, their federal budget cuts have forced local governments to cut funding for teachers, textbooks, and training. This is why we have federal funding for public education. And this is why education is not just a local concern, but a national one as well.

"My efforts to improve public education and create college opportunities for students are rooted in my own upbringing and my own personal history. I'll never forget how one day when I was in the sixth grade, Ms. Thole, the principal of my elementary school, called my mother and told her something she hadn't expected to hear - that I should go to college.

"It happens every day in every public school. A teacher or principal notices the extra effort of a quiet student, and they give quiet encouragement that can change the direction of a life. I know it happens because it happened to me. After that phone call, my parents began to save. Five or ten dollars a week. Not enough to pay for college, but it was all they had. The rest came from a church scholarship and from government loans. And my parents, Loreen and Lou Gephardt, watched their son go on to college and law school and it's hard to know who among us was most proud.

"The mission for better public schools and access to college is a quest that's very personal to me. I never would have made it without a lot of help from a lot of people. Teachers, principals, ministers, and people I never knew and would never meet who contributed to charities and college funds. This patchwork quilt of assistance and encouragement helped me become who I am today. And I am forever grateful.

"It's why, in 1991, I helped write the Middle Income Student Assistance Act that expanded eligibility for college aid for middle-income families. And it's why I've fought so hard to double Pell Grants. Under George Bush, the value of a Pell Grant has diminished considerably. Today, the maximum grant only covers 34 percent of a public university's tuition. And earlier this year, George Bush tried to limit funding even more and deny Pell Grants to 84,000 students. Senator Claiborne Pell has been out of office for less than ten years and already his namesake is being squandered by George Bush. We have to change that.

"But George Bush squanders even his own education accomplishments. In 1991, I wrote the Rewards for Results Act that set high goals for public schools and rewarded those that met high standards. Ten years later, George Bush signed the No Child Left Behind law, which borrowed heavily from Rewards for Results with one key exception. Rather than rewarding success, George Bush is punishing failure. Or put another way, instead of holding a carrot, he's wielding a stick. By withholding funding from those schools that fail to meet high standards, he only guarantees that struggling schools will struggle even more.

"And George Bush has exacerbated the problem by under-funding No Child Left Behind by $6 billion in 2002 and by $7.5 billion in 2003. George Bush set school standards so high and funding so low, the schools that need the most help have no prayer of meeting the standards. It's easy for George Bush to point at the mountain. The hard work is actually climbing it.

"George Bush is deliberately setting up public schools to fail, so he can say there is no choice but to take money away from public schools and spend it on private school vouchers. And parents are left wondering if maybe he's right. It's the worst kind of manipulation. George Bush is setting up children to fail, and then using their failure to advance his right-wing agenda. If George Bush truly believed in his Leave No Child Behind law, then he'd provide the funding to pay for it, rather than wasting the money on tax breaks for the wealthy.

"This president preys upon the uncertainties of parents and the academic weakness of under-served children. And he wonders why there is skepticism, anger, and rage at his presidency. Or maybe he doesn't wonder, but he should.

"Look at who suffers from the under-funding of public education:

"Over 50,000 teachers will not receive the training and professional development called for by No Child Left Behind. And more than half of all eligible low-income children will go without the additional instruction they need to meet the new high standards. Because the Bush administration cut 40 percent of the funding for after-school programs, over one million children will have no safe place to go after school.

"And George Bush has cut funding for class size reduction, new school construction, and funding for bilingual education has been cut for the first time ever. This administration demands that immigrants speak English, but then undercuts the ability of children to learn the language. George Bush is even refusing to fully fund I.D.E.A. - the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. He is short-changing this vital program by $11 billion, dismissing adversity and leaving dismay in his wake.

"The essence of the problem is this. It's not that that George Bush dislikes children with disabilities, language difficulties, or children who live in poverty. They're just inconvenient. And they're not his responsibility. Well, they're not just his responsibility. Those children belong to all of us. The strength of this country is believing that we're all in this together. And I'm not ready to cast that belief aside.

"This president is a master of the politics of deception. He speaks glowingly of turning Head Start into a block grant program and turning control over to state governments. But he doesn't tell you that states would no longer have to meet the federal quality and performance standards that have made the program so successful. This would allow larger class sizes, unproven academic curricula, minimal parental involvement, and few health and nutritional services. There is no rationale for turning Head Start over to state control other than to wash George Bush's hands of responsibility. As president, I will never abdicate responsibility, and I will never absolve the federal government from looking out for those who need our help the most.

"As I mentioned earlier, my ideas and priorities come from life experience. Our daughter Kate dreamed for years of becoming a teacher and her friends laughed at her. "You'll make nothing," they said. Well, she followed her dream, but she had to live at home with Jane and me because she started at $17,000 a year.

How can we expect young people to become teachers and rise to the highest calling, if we pay them the lowest wages of any professional occupation? We trust our teachers with the lives our children, and indeed, with the fate of our country. For a life's work of such value, it's time the salary of an average teacher added up to more than the cost of your average S.U.V.

"Over the next 10 years, it's projected that we'll have a shortfall of 2.7 million teachers due to retirement and larger student populations. And low teacher pay combined with student debt isn't helping matters. As president, I'll create a Teacher Corps, modeled after the ROTC. If you agree to teach for five years - and to be held to a high standard of excellence - we'll help pay your way through college. We value our military with such a program. We should value our teachers as well.

"Our goal will be to recruit 2.5 million new teachers by the end of the decade and to place them where they're needed most. The estimated cost of such a program is a little over $4 billion a year. This is less than a ten percent increase in the federal education budget. But the benefits would be immeasurable-reduced classroom overcrowding, more talented students attracted to teaching, higher teacher standards, and lower turnover. I can't tell you how proud I am of Kate's determination to be a teacher. But I look forward to the day when would-be teachers are not questioned for their career choice, but rather congratulated and fully compensated for their worth.

"As president, my commitment to reversing the George Bush legacy of manipulation and abdication will begin with fully funding Head Start. And it will continue with offering federal support to local efforts aimed at establishing pre-schools and other early education programs. I want to create a virtual constellation of early childhood education centers known as Brightness Centers, illuminated by bright young minds at work.

"I will also fully fund No Child Left Behind, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and the 21st Century Learning Centers that provide after-school activities. Further, we will reform No Child Left Behind to enhance state and local input on measures of student achievement without undermining the necessity of accountability in education.

"Let there be no misunderstanding - we must continue to set high standards. But those standards should be set by parents and teachers, not a cynical White House with ulterior motives. And those goals should not be so far out of reach that they leave countless students disillusioned and demoralized. It's been said that 'too often we give our children answers to remember rather than problems to solve.' In setting high goals, we must also give our children reason for hope rather than just hope and a prayer.

"My vision of a stronger education system includes increasing high school graduation rates by providing more individual attention to students at risk, enhancing literacy rates, and supporting advanced science and math instruction to prepare students for the technology-related jobs of this new century.

"But we must also never lose sight of how the arts enrich the lives of our students and ourselves. When our children are young, we take great pride in every finger painting that hangs from our refrigerator. Love of art does not die in the second decade of life. With love and encouragement, our children can continue to create beauty and grace. And isn't that something we could all use a little more of in these difficult times?

"It's why fully funding after-school programs, including art and music, is so important to me. Generations from now, we will not be remembered so much for the etching on computer chips as we will for the etchings by a human hand. And studies have shown that arts in schools improve academic achievement, foster self-expression, and improve socialization. It's time we had a president that recognized that.

"I will also continue my efforts to increase resources for school construction and modernization that I began in the Congress many years ago. The key is providing tax incentives for the construction and renovation of public schools, and for corporate support of low-income school districts. Too many children are learning in trailers parked on school playgrounds, or in inner-city classrooms with boarded up windows and asbestos ceiling tiles.

"It's no wonder parents are losing hope in public schools if we are unable to offer modern classrooms filled with life, light, and enough teachers so every child can learn. My goal is to build more new schools than any president since FDR, and to renovate more classrooms than all the presidents combined. Jimmy Carter is known, among many things, for raising houses. My presidency will be known for raising chalkboards.

"Finally, I will continue the Democratic commitment to equal access to college, technical school, and mid-career technical training. As president, I will double the maximum Pell Grant, make the first $10,000 of higher education costs tax deductible, expand funding for Hispanic Serving Institutions, and provide full-funding parity for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

"I will also finally make financial aid available to full-time workers hoping to learn new skills at their local university or technical school. And I will increase the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit from $1,000 to $2,500 to help defray the cost of post-secondary study. By indexing the tax credit and making it refundable, it will allow middle and lower-income families to receive the credit for virtually all of the tuition at a community college, or even some public four-year colleges.

"Also, on a larger scale, my health care economic stimulus plan includes $172 billion over three years for state and local governments. By helping these governments cover the cost of health care for their employees, we create a windfall that can be used to invest in higher education and to lower tuition costs.

"I believe in a presidency that recognizes that everything is tied together - education, health care, the economy - there is no dividing line that separates one from another. We can't grow the economy without fixing health care. We can't prepare workers for tomorrow's jobs without a vibrant system of public education. And by ensuring health care for all, we can reap the benefits of a stronger economy and a stronger workforce. And that means a larger tax base to reinvest back into education. Or we can just pass simplistic knee-jerk tax cuts for the wealthiest among us and call it a day. That's not my idea of how you lift this country up. And I'll bet it's not yours either.

"When a child looks out the window of their classroom, the world they see beyond their school may not appear much different from just three short years ago. But it is. We've lost more jobs than the last eleven presidents combined. 43 million Americans have no health insurance. Our national debt is rising and investment in education is falling far short of the demands we're placing on our children. Add to that a new world where Americans are the enemy, our global intentions are confused, and citizens lose their lives in acts of war on our very own soil. Outside that window is a very different place indeed. And inside that classroom, lives are changing as well. If we stay this course, they're not changing for the better.

"We need to engage the American people in a conversation. The American family has endured remarkable changes over the last few decades. Most everyone works, most everyone works longer hours, and most everyone works a longer way from home. Parents have far less time than in generations past to raise, supervise, and educate their children. And something is desperately needed to fill in the gaps. The one institution best able to help every family is our system of public schools, and it's why these investments are so critically important.

"In the end, I believe in a presidency that doesn't pit one school against another. I believe in a presidency that reaches out to parents with reassurance and results, not scare tactics and manipulation. And I believe in a presidency where disadvantaged children are not marginalized like so much extra baggage.

"There is magic in learning. And there is hope. But there is also a challenge - we have an education system that is more and more focused on teaching for tests rather than teaching for life. And while we have to set high standards, and tests are the best means for measuring results, there is something lost in all of the commotion. I believe that learning how to learn is just as important as what you learn. Mysteries of life are solved by curiosity, and not encyclopedias. We have to find the right balance between teaching the basics and fostering a love for creativity, innovation, and daring. And it all begins with fully funding the high aspirations that we set for our public schools.

"My brother and I, a music teacher and a public servant, would have lived far different lives were it not for our public school. I believe in public education. And I believe in the potential of the quiet student in the back of the classroom. Because once upon a time, the student sitting at that desk was me.

"Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless the teachers of this great country."