U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today testified on the D.C. School Choice Initiative before the House Committee on Government Reform.

President Bush's budget request for fiscal year 2004 includes $75 million for a national Choice Incentive Fund. Under this program, the department would make grants to support projects that provide low-income parents, particularly those who have children attending low-performing public schools, with the opportunity to transfer their children to higher-performing public and private schools, including charter schools. A portion of the money would be reserved for the District of Columbia.

Secretary Paige's opening statement follows:

Chairman Davis and members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the proposal before us to improve student achievement in the District of Columbia through expanded school choice.

I am pleased to be here with my dear friend Congressman John Boehner and Mayor Anthony Williams -- both men of incredible courage and vision. I know they believe as our president does and as I do that education is a civil right -- just like the right to vote or to be treated equally.

As President Bush oftentimes says, "Educating our children is the most important thing we will ever do as a nation, and we must get it right."

Thanks to you, Mr. Chairman, and many others on the Committee and in Congress, we are getting it right.

I am happy to join you in this courageous step in education reform.

Some 18 months ago, President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. No Child Left Behind says loud and clear: We, as a nation, will teach every child well, not just some of them, because every child deserves a quality education.

We have raised the bar. Now, nothing less than great schools worthy of this great nation will do.

At one time this city's schools were considered among the best in the nation. We'd be pretty hard-pressed to make that claim today.

But I believe -- and I think Mayor Williams agrees with me on this -- that these challenges can be overcome. And the D.C. schools can once again be places of high standards and high expectations.

I say that with full respect for Superintendent Vance and with appreciation for what he is trying to accomplish. But children's lives are at stake. And what this Administration is saying is: "Let's stop wringing our hands and start fixing the problem. And here's how we propose to do it: We start by forming a partnership with the city to ensure that all its children receive a good education and offer meaningful options to those most likely to fall behind."

Choice is essential for authentic public school reform. And I'll tell you why: Our society today is the most choice-saturated of all time.

Look at the world we live in. Instant messaging. 24-hour news. Personal Web sites. Global markets. Overnight express. eCommerce. Every day, we can tailor to our own personal whims exactly what we want to see, what we want to hear and what we want to do. And the world is moving toward more choice, not less. Unless you're poor.

In that case, you look around and you see many in society speeding into the future -- while you're still trying to get a handle on the present. Education that is a given for so many, looks more like wishful thinking to you. You want a better life for your kids, but you look at their schools and you know that a snowball in Hell has a better chance.

Many parents in the District who can afford it send their children to some of the finest private schools in the nation that happen to be right here in the District. But most parents in the District don't have the luxury of choices. They get what they get.

In my mind, this one of the most grievous sins we can commit as a society -- to trap children in schools that are failing them and turn away like they don't count.

In President Bush's book, they do count. Every child counts.

That is why his 2004 budget requests money for a national Choice Incentive Fund to provide choice scholarships for low-income children to transfer to higher-performing schools. These scholarships will allow moms and dads to send their children to schools where they can really learn and succeed.

I am proud to say that the D.C. leadership is in our corner on this. Mayor Williams, School Board President Peggy Cooper Cafritz and Councilman Kevin Chavous, who chairs the Council's Education Committee -- each responded to this proposal with courage and conviction -- because they share our concern for the children in the District.

They know what we know -- and what every parent knows: Education is the key to success. And the education our children receive in grades K-12 sets the stage for the rest of their lives.

The U.S. Supreme Court has said choice is legal. Places like Milwaukee that have tried choice have seen success -- from improved student performance to improved public schools. So why not give it a try here -- and see if it can help our children achieve their greatest potential?

I think of the words of John Gardner -- the former Milwaukee School Board president -- in his essay: "How School Choice Helps Public Schools."

John wrote: "As a left-wing organizer with 30 years' experience in labor unions, workers' cooperatives and poor communities, I knew working-class and poor people do not want school choice or public education. They want BOTH. Three years later, evidence from Milwaukee, home of the nation's most ambitious program to let parents enroll students where they want, demonstrates school choice has improved Milwaukee Public Schools."

John saw in Milwaukee what I saw as Superintendent in Houston: Choice works.

I can really empathize with Paul Vance. PBS once did a documentary called "The Toughest Job in America" -- about urban school superintendents. They were right. It is unbelievably hard.

And turning around a failing school system is no cakewalk, but it can be done: with hard work and a willingness to think innovatively and with the focus firmly on what's best for the child.

We did that in Houston. We created a system that provided options like transfers, schools-within-schools, and charters that expanded choices for children to learn and achieve the way their parents had always hoped they could. I believe choice helped save that district.

And I believe choice can help save this one, as well.

Let me close with a thought from Dr. Howard Fuller, another former superintendent, who ran the Milwaukee schools. Dr. Fuller now heads the Institute for the Transformation of Learning at Marquette University, and he had this to say:

"In America, it is virtually impossible for our children to bring their dreams to reality without an education. Unfortunately, far too many of our children are not only having their dreams deferred, they are having them destroyed. They are being destroyed by educational systems that are under educating them, mis-educating them, and pushing them out by the thousands every day. We must have a sense of urgency about changing this unacceptable situation."

The goal of this Administration is excellence for every child, with no child left behind. All means all. And I believe this proposal will empower low-income parents to make the choices that will set their children on the path to a future that is full of hope and opportunity.

I appreciate your letting me come here to talk with you today. I'll be happy to take any questions you have.

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