For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 2, 2001
Remarks by the President
On Education the Oval Office
2:51 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Listen, thank
you all for coming. It's my honor to meet with the Senate
conferees and the Chairman of the Education Committee in the House and,
of course, the Secretary of Education to discuss the Conference
Committee on Education and the education reform package, and how best
to -- what I can do to help move the bill, and to work with the members
to get a -- to continue the spirit of reform that was a part of the
Senate bill and the House bill.
Today, one of the things that I hope the
nation notices is that the NAEP is out, the National Assessment
statistics. And one of the things -- one of the powerful
statistics is that states that use strong accountability systems,
states that measure, states that say every child could matter are the
states that perform best when it comes to teaching children the basic
skills, in this case math. It so happened to be that one of
those states was Texas, the other was North Carolina.
But it is a strong message to the
advocates for reform who sit here in the Oval Office, strong message
for the members who doubt whether or not accountability is important;
that accountability is crucial for reform. And after all, we're all
united in making sure every child can learn in America, and no child,
not one child is left behind.
So I want to thank the members for
coming. I'm hopeful that we can get a bill on my desk as
soon as possible. I know that's the intent of the two
Chairmen. And when I do -- when it is, and when I sign it,
it will be really good for the public education of the country.
Thank you all for coming.
END 2:53 P.M. EDT
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