ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Aug. 15 — President George W. Bush today announced more than $6 million in new federal support to the Albuquerque Public Schools for a magnet school program designed to bring diverse groups of children together, provide public school choice and establish innovative educational programs for students.

President Bush made the announcement at Griegos Elementary School where the President, joined by U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige, celebrated the first day of school and launched Back to School, Moving Forward—a back-to-school tour promoting accountability for elementary and secondary schools.

"It's so much easier to walk into a classroom of tough-to-educate children and say we'll just move you through," Bush said. "And guess who gets hurt the most when that happens? Guess who gets affected the most in a system that has no accountability as its cornerstone? It's the children, the so-called hard-to-educate, cause it's easier to quit. And one of the ways to make sure we never quit is for the federal government to help which we will do in reading programs, and by the way I'm proud to announce that [U.S. Secretary of Education] Rod Paige and my administration has worked up a grant of $6 million, a three-year grant, to the Albuquerque school system, for the magnet school programs in your school district. We can help."

This is the first time Albuquerque has earned a magnet schools grant under the federal Magnet Schools Assistance Program, which helps school districts establish or expand existing magnet programs that are part of a school district's court-ordered or federally approved desegregation plan. The three-year grant, totaling nearly $2.2 million a year over three years, is one of an expected 60 grants and $95 million to be awarded through September.

To qualify for funding, projects must:

• foster interaction among students of different social, economic, ethnic and racial backgrounds in classroom activities and extracurricular activities;

• carry out a high-quality educational program that will substantially strengthen students' reading skills or knowledge of mathematics, science, history, geography, English, foreign languages, art, music or vocational skills;

• reduce, eliminate or prevent minority group isolation in participating schools;

• address the educational needs of the students who will be enrolled in the magnet schools; and,

• encourage greater parental decision-making and involvement.

The Magnet Schools Assistance Program is authorized under Title V, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended in 1994 and is administered by the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.

NOTE TO EDITORS: A transcript of President Bush's remarks at Griegos Elementary School will be available this afternoon via U.S. Newswire.

The local contact for the grant is Albuquerque Public Schools Superintendent Bradford Allison at (505) 842-3633. A list of previously named grantees can be found at www.ed.gov/PressReleases/.

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