I am accompanied this morning with the Assistant Secretary for Higher Education Sally Stroup. Where's Sally? Thank you for coming along with me Sally.

Let me begin by telling you what a tremendous pleasure it is for me to serve as Secretary of Education for President Bush. I've known this man now for some time. He's a good-looking man. You can tell that I'm more in line with his father's age. [Laughter.] But when I met him the, at that time, Ambassador was making a decision to run for President, the 41st President of the United States.

The current President wasn't quite as presidential then as he is right now. [Laughter.] But I can tell you that he has an authentic interest in education. It did not just start when he became interested in running for the governor's chair in Texas. And even now, one must view him through a political lens because he's the President of the United States, and you don't get to be the President of the United States unless you are good at the politics, but notwithstanding that, this is an authentic interest of his.

I want to thank Chairman Boehner for his leadership in education and for the lessons I've learned in leadership from just being around this man. He's a special guy. When I watched him build a coalition around the No Child Left Behind Act, it was unbelievable to me, to take two opposite poles and bring them together around some core issues. So I've learned a good deal from him.

I want to thank Chairman Hoekstra, or Congressman. He pointed out to me how important it was that we have a credible organization that can engender respect not only for members on the Hill, but for the nation. And so we work tirelessly to make sure that when one says "the U.S. Department of Education," you think about a well-operating organization. So we had a lot of work to do to clean up, and the Congressman was right there with his eyes on us every drop of the way. So I want to thank him publicly for his leadership and for his guidance and for his interest in making sure that we take care of those management issues.

Right now, I want to report to you that I believe that the U.S. Department of Education is one of the best-operating organizations in the Federal Government right now, in terms of the efficiency of an organization's operations.

I remind our colleagues every day of a management lesson that I learned when I was taking some management courses back in Houston. The unit on that course was called, "Price to Stay," which teaches us that the price to stay is just as onerous as the price to get there, so you can't rest on your laurels. You've got to be moving all of the time.

As you know, a good friend of yours and a good friend of mine just recently went in another direction, Bill Hansen. We are going to miss that big guy. [Laughter.] We're going to miss him. Bill is a special person. I got a chance to see skill, and tools, and character, and integrity and all of that good stuff in one package. So I just want to say publicly how much I respect, and honor, and thank Bill for the time that he did put in.

I know that he had to make this change because we're talking about higher education, but Bill had his own higher education issues. [Laughter.] He's got six kids in school, and he had to take care of that. While he's gone, though, I've still got his phone number. [Laughter.]

It's great to be with you today to talk about the President's and also my interests and goals in higher education. You know that President Bush is very interested in K-12 education, as I am, but what I want to communicate is we're not just talking about K-12 education when we say K-12 education.

Remember, I spent many years in higher education as dean. I spent 10 years as dean of the College of Education at Texas Southern University. I know firsthand that 30 percent of the freshmen that arrive on our college campuses are not ready to do rigorous college work. And so when you do a good job in K-12 education, you're also working towards higher education because the higher education people then can do what they are supposed to do and can be relieved of that energy and expense that they use in remediation courses for students who didn't get the skills they need in K-12.

So we're talking about education. We're just starting at K-12, trying to get the rudiments in, in the right place. And that's why the President proposed that the Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, pass the historic No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

This bold law is not just a statement of pious sentimentality. It is a goal. It is an expectation. When we say all children, no child should left behind, that's exactly what we mean, and that's what we are busy communicating across the country because it's easy to miss this. We mean that we can no longer judge school districts based on their average performance, which hides a lot of failure down underneath it.

We're talking about looking down underneath that average, disaggregating down to the individual subgroups and sometimes individual students to find out how they're doing. We can't judge the system by just an average. And so that's the whole big paradigm switch.

And now, because of the No Child Left Behind Act, every state in our union has an accountability plan that's been approved by the U.S. Department of Education that includes every school and every student. Historic. It has never happened. Now, every student is on record. The accountability plan covers everybody. So we're on our way to this goal, which no society has ever attempted and nonetheless achieved.

We need for education and training after high school, the need for that has never been greater than it is today. The earnings gap between those who have post-secondary education and those that do not is wide, and I believe getting wider. At the same time, the number of jobs requiring at least a bachelor's degree is expected to increase better than 21 percent between 2000 and 2010. That means that for many Americans to achieve their American dream, they're going to need to go to college and get a degree.

President Bush is helping out with that dream. He wants to put a college education within reach of all of our citizens. He is doing that by preparing young people better on the front end and by increasing Federal assistance after they graduate from high school.

President Bush understands that many students need financial help to put that dream for college within reach. Since President Bush took office Federal funding for student aid has increased by $3.8 billion. That's a 36-percent increase since he took office.

This investment will help more than nine million young people reach their dreams. The President's '04 budget takes important steps towards making college more affordable for low- and middle-income families.

Pell Grants, increased to $12.7 billion, a 45-percent increase over levels when the President first took office. This important program will now serve nearly 5 million students who would otherwise have been left behind.

Funding for historically black colleges and universities has also increased to $224 million. And increased funding for Hispanic-serving institutions is also there.

One change that is particularly close to my heart is expanding the loan forgiveness from $5,000 to $17,5000 for teachers serving in high-need situations. That's a real incentive to bring the best teachers into the environments where the need is greatest.

In addition, the President's tax proposal resulted in nearly $10 billion in tax relief to help families with higher education expense, and that includes above-the-line deductions of up to $4,000 annually in higher education expenses worth $2.9 billion, and student loan interest deductions worth $660 million, and tax credits worth nearly $6 billion.

The President's education budget represents a significant commitment to, and investment in, higher education by helping secure higher education for those who want it and who most need it.

Now, as you know well, we are now preparing for the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, which expires September '04. The reauthorization is a great opportunity to build on our commitment to giving everyone the opportunity to succeed. We can put higher education within the reach of a whole new generation of students if we do our business right here.

At the same time, we can ensure that our higher education establishment meets the needs for all Americans in preparing them to meet the demands of the 21st century workforce.

Just briefly about our thinking with the Higher Education Act Reauthorization. It's not in concrete. We're still taking ideas and thinking through concepts and strategies, but we have some support built around three broad goals.

The first goal is affordability. The reauthorization process provides the opportunity to build on the No Child Left Behind Act by opening the door to college to millions of first generation college students. While a percentage of low-income students attending college is increasing, still too many are being left on the sidelines because of high cost.

I applaud Representative McKeon's efforts, and the efforts of his subcommittee, the members of his subcommittee for asking some tough questions about why college prices continue to skyrocket.

The second broad goal is access. It's projected that the college-age population will increase by more than 10 percent over the next decade, and more adults also are going to college. At the same time, there's a limited growth capacity within the college education/higher education system.

We're moving to an age, however, where it's possible for students to learn any time and anywhere, including working adults, students in rural areas and other populations with limited access to a traditional college setting. When the Higher Education Act is reauthorized, one thing is certain, if the Higher Education Act is to continue to serve its original purpose of helping students of all ages and backgrounds achieve their educational goals, the law must change to support, not stifle, the broad array of diverse learning opportunities available to a growing and changing student population.

The third broad goal is accountability for results. We think it's time for colleges to focus their attention on not only enrolling students, but retaining those students so they can complete their educational program. Too many students are dropping out after their first year of post-secondary education with nothing to show for it.

A college education is, for most students and families, one of the biggest investments they'll ever make. And like any investment, students and families should be apprised of all relevant facts relating to the investment. They should know about price. This should include potential return on an investment and quality of the programs and services, to name a few. Empowering with accurate and relevant data students and families, can be able to make the right choices. Getting students and parents more relevant and concise information on what that investment is producing will help improve accountability.

I look forward to working with you throughout the process to ensure that every student who wants a college education can get one. I also want to thank all of you for the work that you're doing and for making financial information available to students and families and making student loans widely available across the country.

I think we have a great partnership, and I know you and the staff at the Department of Education have worked together to simplify and streamline the student aid process. I hope you will continue to work with us, and we will continue our efforts to simplify the student aid process for students and their families. And we'll, together, provide opportunities for students who otherwise would not have had those opportunities, a chance to go to college and get a part of the American dream.

God bless you and God bless America. Thank you. [Applause.]

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