THE SECRETARY: Thank you, Tony, for that introduction.

Thank you for hosting us today. I'm proud that Dr. Vance has joined us on this tour, and I want to thank Dr. Vance for being here. I've been a superintendent of a large city and I've walked in your shoes, Dr. Vance. They're very uncomfortable shoes.

I think being a superintendent is one of the roughest jobs in America. So I thank you for your service to the citizens of this district and to America.

Mr. Mayor, thank you for being here too. I've had the opportunity to work with the mayor in recent months on ways to expand current options in the District, and to assist on improving the opportunities for young people in the District of Columbia. The mayor wants, deeply, to have every single child in this great district to have a wonderful opportunity for an education and I'm going to do all I can to be of assistance with him, and thank you for your leadership, Mr. Mayor. You've shown great courage and leadership in promoting a unique approach to education I look forward to working with the Mayor and with Dr. Vance as we work to make all D.C. schools a place of excellence.

When President Bush took office in 2001, he knew that one of the most urgent problems we had to solve in the United States of America was our education system. That's why, on the first day in office, he put forth to Congress a proposal that Congress acted upon, and the results were the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Now this was a remarkable consensus, by both parties, and by both houses of Congress, that said the time has come to make every school in America a place of high expectation and high standards.

The No Child Left Behind Act provides historic levels of funding to get the job done. Never, in American history, has there been so much revenue provided for disadvantaged children. The new law creates a framework for change based on four broad principles—accountability, which means it's time now for us to take responsibility for student learning; level of control and flexibility. The people at the scene are the people to make the best decisions. Choice for parents. We can't chain a student to a school that is not serving him well. And research-based instruction that works, making sure that the way we teach our children has been tested and tried, and if we do that, we know they'll learn.

Now the President rolled out his 04 budget, and once again the major focus was education. Despite all the competing issues, competing for the tax dollars, things like strengthening our economy, like defending our nation, like expanding opportunities for all Americans. Despite all of that, the President still protected the investment in education, such that if the Congress approves his budget, the budget for education will rise to $53.1 billion, historic levels.

Now that's $11 billion more than when he took office. That's $11 billion more than when the President took office. If approved by Congress, it'll increase funding for the District of Columbia to $782 million. It'll provide $82.4 million just to implement the reforms called for in the No Child Left Behind Act.

It'll provide $2.5 million to ensure that every chid in this District learns to read by third garde.

It'll increase funding for Title 1 to $53 million for this District, in this District. Increase funding for special ed to $15 million, and will provide $35 million in Pell grants. When students get the fundamentals here in high school, they can go to college. And provide more than $13.5 million to attract and retain highly-qualified teachers. The most important reform initiative for any system is to get great teachers.

We want the District to be successful because we know the stakes couldn't be higher. We believe education is a national security issue also. It's a national security issue of the first order. We've been reminded of this, over and over again. We cannot fall behind our Asian and European neighbors in education and continue to be the leader of the free world.

Now never before has this nation made such a bold commitment to educate every child; every child. Most societies are satisfied with educating some of their children. This President asked this nation to step up and provide an education for every child, every single one of them, no matter about their race, and no matter about their family income, no matter about that zip code. Every child.

The President believes that the greatest debt this nation has is a debt to the children, to have them educated. Now states have moved forward in getting this done, too. Although there's been a lot of chatter around the edges, when you look at it closely, states are working hard to meet the bold commitment that the President has set before us.

For example, January 31st, when each state was to submit a plan showing how they were going to implement the No Child Left Behind Act, most people thought that it wouldn't get done. Every single state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, had their plan in by 5:30 the day that it was required, and we moved forward on approving those plans by working with the people at the local area, at the local scene, and today, I am pleased to announce that the 34th plan to be approved is the plan submitted by the District of Columbia, and I want this morning to provide Dr. Vance, and congratulate him and his colleagues, with a letter that states that the Department of Education has approved the plan for the District of Columbia. Thank you so much for your hard work.

This is proof that the District of Columbia is committed to high standards and high expectations, and with the approval of the State of Michigan's plan today as well, that would total 35 plans that we've already approved.

I congratulate you and thank you for all your hard work, so every child in this District can be educated, and not a single child in this District will be left behind. God bless you and God bless America.

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