American businesses created public education and help sustain it. If we are to revolutionize public education, we need your help. American businesses can become a powerful catalyst for educational reform. Together, we can help lead our schools into the future. A dynamic partnership between government, teachers, business, and parents can transform our schools into the best in the world. And we have the perfect vehicle for such a transformation: the No Child Left Behind Act.

Each of you has a vital role to play. The involvement of American businesses in education is as old as public education itself. Many schools were created by local businesses. For instance, in 1831, the first public high school was founded in Lowell, Mass., where mill owners searched for an alternative to on-the-job remedial training. Employees in the mills had to read, calculate, communicate and perform small feats of engineering. The owners realized that it would be cheaper to pay for public education prior to employment than to teach employees on the clock. That example was a model for many communities. Over a 20-year period public schools sprang up in Baltimore, Charleston, Cleveland, New York, St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit and right here in San Francisco in 1856. American corporations were supporters of the establishment of these public schools. And you have been supportive leaders and partners in the creation and continuance of public education ever since.

But your involvement extends beyond the creation of schools. American businesses help pay for public education through taxes. Corporate and property taxes are essential to the very existence and maintenance of our public schools. As corporate taxpayers, you have a right to know that your money is spent wisely and productively. You have a right to expect accountability and transparency. You have a right to expect that there will be measurable, objective standards for success. You are helping to subsidize an educational process. You want it to work.

And, American businesses—your businesses—sustain public education through donations and school adoptions. For example, the Gates Foundation has just pledged $51.2 million to the New York City school system. General Electric, Time Warner, IBM, SBC Communications, Disney, Toshiba, Honda, and hundreds of other companies and foundations have donated to school districts in California and around the country. Your contributions have often been the difference between success and failure. In some cases schools would have shut down without your intervention. Your generosity has been a safety net for many students and their schools.

Yet, despite the historic and comprehensive involvement of American corporations, many schools have ignored the lessons of business. Some schools have been run as centralized, bureaucratic monopolies, with little accountability and few standards of measurement. Many schools have been politicized with little attention to classroom teaching or achievement. When budgets were tight, and funds needed elsewhere, many of these schools were fiscally plundered by their state or local politicians. Operationally, many of these school systems have become antiquated and static. They have been run according to a philosophy of social organization that doesn't distinguish between high or low performance and doesn't want anyone to make distinctions about achievement. As a result, millions of students have suffered from bureaucratic imprisonment and poorly delivered services.

One reporter, Amity Shlaes, a columnist for the Financial Times (March 8, 2004, p. 13) put it this way: "The problem lies with workaday publicly funded grammar and secondary schools, especially in cities. These are the factories that produce the national workforce. Yet, for the past quarter-century, they have had little competition and have enjoyed a lack of scrutiny that would make Parmalat blush."

It's time we recognized a central, cardinal fact: education is a big business. It is a huge part of our economy, a large segment of our gross national product. Last year, as a nation, we spent more than half a trillion dollars on K-12 education. This was on the local, state and federal levels. Our nation's educational efforts are a large financial endeavor—rivaling spending on the defense, agriculture, transportation, telecommunications or entertainment sectors. It is time we used a little business sense to straighten out our schools.

We may not have much of a choice. Globalization has made quality education absolutely imperative. In the past, graduating students competed with job seekers in their community or country. Now our graduates compete globally. There is no longer any guarantee of employment with a high school diploma. Even a college diploma may not be a meaningful measure. Many employers are now asking for prospective employees' SAT scores. We have entered a new age: the 21st century is now a service economy dependent on technology, innovation, information and technical skills. We need what are called "knowledge workers." And knowledge workers must be well-educated. Marginally educated or undereducated workers are not in high demand.

We cannot be complacent or self-satisfied because our economy is strong now. True, the United States is economically powerful now. We must retain that position of strength and stability. The quality of our educational system is directly responsible for our economic success. From the mid-18th century to the end of World War II, there was an explosion of innovation, activity and initiative that placed the United States at the forefront of international economic power. Each day we continue to build on that legacy. But American leadership may soon be lost. We see growing economic power in the European Union, China and the other Asian Tigers.

Unfortunately, not all of our students are ready for this new environment. Millions of students are mired in mediocrity, denied a quality education. The vast majority of those left behind are African Americans, Hispanics, special needs students, English language learners or low-income students. For various reasons, they have been passed on and passed out.

How bad is it? Well, many students do not read at their grade level; some are years behind; some cannot read at all. There are similar problems in mathematics. For example, by the time they reach 12th grade, only one in six African American students and one in five Hispanics can read at grade level. The average African American 12th-grader reads at the eighth-grade level. Math scores are even worse: only 3 percent of African American students and 4 percent of Hispanics are testing at the proficient level. It is an outrage.

We are witnessing an emerging de facto educational apartheid. This is no exaggeration of the facts. Millions of children have been left behind. Millions. Again, we know exactly who these children are: our most vulnerable. This educational divide is cruel, vicious, demeaning, disrespectful, and degrading. It is intolerable.

This achievement gap will not be corrected by simply spending more money. We now spend more on education per pupil on K-12 than any other country except Switzerland. And if you include college expenses, we are the biggest spenders. Yet, our students are about average when compared to European or Asian students. The educational system itself needs to be reformed—revolutionized!

That is why the No Child Left Behind is so important. President Bush and the Congress have instituted a revolution in education designed to vastly increase the quality of education and make it available to all of our children—every single one.

Every child can learn. Like a successful business, the No Child Left Behind Act introduced measurement of progress, made the system transparent and accountable, and introduced consumer choice. These ingredients ultimately make the system better and provide a better product.

This law can be our children's salvation. It is a necessary law to guarantee a quality education for all children, making the educational system more inclusive, fair and just. It is a law that will help preserve our country's economic and political leadership throughout the world. Perhaps more than any other law, this one is our best hope for the future of America.

Unfortunately, there has been much misunderstanding, misinformation and confusion about the law. But, it is actually very straightforward.

Consider the issue of standards. We have asked that fourth-graders read and do math at a fourth-grade level. The standards are nothing more than the state's assurance that the state itself will do the job of successfully educating its children. There is nothing unreasonable about that as an expectation or as a condition for federal funding. We are only asking that the state do its job and do it on its own terms.

Funding has also been an issue. President Bush has set federal support for education at $57 billion for Fiscal Year 2005, a 36 percent increase since he took office. This means that federal education funding for California will be $11.5 billion in 2005, a 45 percent increase since 2001.

In my view, as well as the views of several independent experts and researchers at think tanks, the money is there to get the job done. Several studies demonstrate that the funding is adequate. Last month, the General Accounting Office released a study that shows the law is not an "unfunded mandate." Massachusetts State School Board Chairman James Peyser and economist Robert Costrell said in a study that the money is there. A study out of New Hampshire said the same thing, as did a study by "Accountability Works." Please note that these are all independent experts who do not lobby for increased federal funds.

We need to make all our schools highly successful. I am here today to ask you to be aggressive, far-sighted, visionary and active partners to help remake our educational system. The best investment in business is an investment in education. Many corporations realize this. A recent study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Boston College asked corporations the following question: "What is top social issue for which your business contributes?" The number one answer was "K-12 education," made by one out of every two respondents. These same corporations were asked: "Which social issue will have the greatest impact on their business in the future?" The response made by one out of three businesses: "The performance of public education."

So, how can you help? For one thing, we need your continued involvement and support. We need your continued investment, support and interaction as well as your close ties to local schools. I hope each of your subdivisions and offices have adopted a school. If not, that's a good place to start. I ask that you increase the number of in-kind contributions, especially computer equipment and video-conferencing devices. We need your employees to mentor and help teach children in adopted schools. We also need your business to help sponsor concerts, plays, trips, art exhibits and other activities that feed the mind and souls of each student.

This is primarily a battle of ideas. Help me explain the importance of accountability, testing, choice and quality. Explain the long-term damage to our students and to the economy when we do not adequately educate a student. Join with me to make certain that our schools understand that poor administration, segregation in the schools and disrespect for students does not produce a quality education; these actions steal it away, like a thief in the night, leaving us looking for someone to blame after it is too late.

Finally, I ask that you help me fight to improve the quality of instruction for all students. Educational reform cannot be a process of dumbing down education. It must lift all students higher. One mistake is to think that testing and standards mean that we try to reach a low common denominator. On the contrary, we are attempting to inject a higher standard for learning and to expand expectations and achievement. We are hoping to reach out to the best and brightest students with more resources, just as we are working to help those left behind.

This month there was much discussion about President Reagan and the fall of communism in Europe. I was especially reminded of his speech at the Berlin Wall, where he directly challenged those who limited freedom and repressed free markets.

Likewise, in education, we also need to overcome inflexible, bureaucratic and monopolistic thinking. There are those who have built a wall around our schools, hoping to keep them politicized and unresponsive to the needs of millions of students. They want to contain change, limit choice and perpetuate an outmoded way of thinking.

We must tear down these walls. We didn't need them in Europe; we don't need them here. Let parents have a choice. We need more charter schools, more opportunity scholarships, more magnet schools and other alternatives. Set our students free. Don't chain students to poorly performing schools. Give them a quality education. Help them become the best possible students. And give a quality education to all students, not just the well-off or the geographically fortunate. We need freedom, accountability, transparency, choice, inclusivity, fairness and some social justice for each and every student.

Education may be the industry upon which all others depend. A thriving national and international economic policy is dependent on sound national educational policy. Together, you and I can help transform our educational system. We can help make it better. We can work with superintendents, teachers and parents to make sure every single child receives a quality education. And together, we can make sure no child is left behind.

Thank you.

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