More Resources Video and Text of President's Remarks

The following is excerpted from President Bush's remarks to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) on No Child Left Behind reauthorization:

Another way to make sure this economy grows is to be smart about our education system. The No Child Left Behind Act is an important piece of legislation. I'm a big believer in it, and I'll tell you why. First of all, as the Speaker will tell you, I'm a strong advocate for local control of schools. I don't believe Washington ought to be telling local districts how to run their school system. I do not believe that. (Applause.)

But I do believe this: I believe that when you spend money, you ought to insist upon results. That's what I believe. I believe that every child can learn, and I believe that we ought to expect every school to teach. And when we spend money, I think it makes sense to ask simple questions: Can the child you're educating read, write, add and subtract? I don't think it's too much to ask. As a matter of fact, I think it's good for society that we do ask. It's what I call challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations. (Applause.) If you have low expectations, you've going to get lousy results. If you have high expectations for every child, you're not afraid to measure.

No Child Left Behind says we're going to spend federal money, and we want you to develop an accountability system that will show the parents and taxpayers that the schools are meeting high standards. That's what it says, and it's working. You know, one of the real problems we have in America is an achievement gap. I guess that's a fancy word for saying that generally Anglo kids are doing better in the basics than African American or Latino kids. And that's not good for this country, and it's not right. And it seems like to me we've got to focus our efforts and energies on solving that problem if we want this country to be a hopeful country with a strong economy.

The economy is going to demand brain power as we head into the 21st century, and therefore now is the time to make sure our 4th graders can read, write, and add and subtract, and our 8th graders are more proficient in math, and when you graduate from high school, your diploma means something. And the best place to start is to measure. And when you see a problem, fix it before it's too late. When you find an inner-city kid that may not have the right curriculum to get he or she up to the grade level at the 4th grade, let's solve it now; let's not wait. No Child Left Behind is working, and it needs to be reauthorized by the United States Congress. (Applause.)

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