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PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE
Expanding Educational Opportunity for All Americans
"Our administration has made education a high priority, focusing on
standards, accountability and choice in public schools, and on making a college
education available to every American -- with increased Pell Grant
scholarships, better student loan and work-study programs, and the HOPE
scholarship and other tax credits to help families pay for college tuition.
Because of these efforts, more young people have the chance to make the most of
their God-given abilities, and take their place in the high-tech world of the
21st century. "
-- President Bill Clinton
August 7, 1999
SUPPORTING QUALITY EDUCATION FOR ALL CHILDREN
Largest Investment in Education in Thirty Years. President
Clinton and Vice President Gore have been committed to maintaining our nation's
investment in education. The Clinton-Gore Administration enacted the largest
investment in education in 30 years - and the largest investment in higher
education since the G.I. Bill by doubling student aid to nearly $60
billion.
Providing Early Education to Nearly 900,000 Children with Head
Start. The President and Vice President have expanded Head Start funding by
90 percent since 1993. Head Start will reach approximately 880,000 low-income
children in FY 2000 and, with the President's proposed increase for the
program, will be on the way to reaching the President's goal of serving one
million children and their families by the year 2002. The Administration also
created Early Head Start, bringing Head Start's successful comprehensive
services to families with children ages zero to three, and set high quality
standards for both programs.
Modernizing Our Schools. This year, the President and Vice
President have proposed federal tax credits to pay the interest on nearly $25
billion in state and local bonds to modernize and rebuild up to 6,000 public
schools that are overcrowded, out-of-date, and unsafe. In addition, the
Administration's FY 2001 budget includes a new $1.3 billion school urgent
renovation loan and grant proposal to repair 5,000 schools. An estimated $127
billion is needed to bring America's schools into good overall condition,
according to the U.S. Department of Education. Public and elementary enrollment
is expected to increase by another million students between 1999 and 2006, to a
record 44.4 million elementary and secondary students.
Providing Safe After-School Opportunities for 850,000 Students Each
Year. The 21st Century Community Learning Centers program provides
enriching after-school and summer school opportunities for 850,000 school-age
children in rural and urban communities in FY 2000. Extended learning time has
not only been shown to increase achievement in reading and math, but to
decrease youth violence and drug use. Funding for this program more than
doubled from FY 1999 to FY 2000. For FY 2001, the President's budget calls on
Congress to invest $1 billion in the 21st Century Program and to ensure that
all children in failing schools have access to quality after-school and summer
school opportunities. This proposal will double funding and nearly triple the
number of students served to 2.5 million.
Expanding Access to Technology. With the Vice President's
leadership, the Clinton-Gore Administration has made increasing access to
technology a top priority. The President and Vice President created the
Technology Literacy Challenge Fund to help connect every school to the
Internet, increase the number of multimedia computers in the classroom and
provide technology training for teachers. They increased overall investments in
educational technology from $23 million in 1993 to $769 million in FY 2000, and
tripled funding for Community Technology Centers to reach at least 120
low-income communities. Through the E-rate program, they secured low-cost
connections to the Internet for schools, libraries, rural health clinics and
hospitals, benefiting more than 80 percent of America's public schools. They
also increased investment in education research to ensure all children benefit
from educational technology. In 1999, 95 percent of public schools were
connected to the Internet -- up from 35 percent in 1994. In 1999, 63 percent of
all public school classrooms were connected to the Internet -- up from just 3
percent in 1994.
Turning Around Failing Schools. 11 million low-income students
in 13,000 school districts now benefit from higher expectations and a
challenging curriculum geared to higher standards through Title I-Aid to
Disadvantaged Students. The FY 2000 budget provides a $134 million
accountability fund to help turn around the worst performing schools and hold
them accountable for results through such measures as overhauling curriculum,
improving staffing, or even closing schools and reopening them as charter
schools. This year, the President is proposing to double funding for this fund
to turn around the nation's failing schools to ensure all children receive a
quality education.
Placing High-Quality Teachers in Underserved Areas. President
Clinton and Vice President Gore won $98 million in the FY 2000 budget to
enhance teacher quality and attract teachers to high need, high poverty school
districts. This year, the President and Vice President have proposed a new $1
billion teacher quality plan to recruit, train and reward good teachers. The
Teaching to High Standards Initiative includes a Hometown Teacher Recruitment
program to empower high-poverty school districts to develop programs to recruit
homegrown teachers to address the shortage of qualified teachers.
English Literacy/Civics Initiative. The Clinton-Gore budget
requests $75 million for the English Language/Civics Initiative -- a nearly $50
million increase to help an additional estimated 250,000 limited English
proficient (LEP) individuals. This program helps states and communities provide
LEP individuals with expanded access to quality English-language instruction
linked to civics and life skills instruction, including understanding the U.S.
government system, the public education system, the workplace, and other key
institutions of American life.
Strengthening Bilingual and Immigrant Education. The President
is committed to ensuring that students with limited English skills get the
extra help they need in order to learn English and meet the same high standards
expected for all students. The Clinton-Gore Administration fought for and won a
35% increase in bilingual and immigrant education in the 1997 budget deal, and
in FY 1999 the Administration fought for and won a doubling of the investments
in bilingual teacher training as part of its Hispanic Education Action Plan.
Bilingual education funding helps school districts teach English to more than a
million limited English proficient (LEP) children and helps LEP students to
achieve to the same high standards as all other students. It also provides
teachers with the training they need to teach LEP students. The Immigrant
Education program helps more than a thousand school districts provide
supplemental instructional services to more than 800,000 recent immigrant
students. In his proposal to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act, the President has proposed additional help to ensure that all teachers are
well-trained to meet the needs of LEP students. His proposal would also make
schools and districts more accountable for helping children with LEP master
their academic subjects and learn English. The President's FY 2001 budget
increases funding for these programs by an additional $832 million.
HELPING ALL CHILDREN ACHIEVE HIGH STANDARDS
More High-Quality Teachers with Smaller Class Sizes. Research
proves that children learn more in smaller classes - particularly in the early
years. Small classes allow children to receive more individual attention from
teachers; acquire a solid foundation for future learning; and learn to read
independently by the end of third grade. The Clinton-Gore Administration won a
second installment of $1.3 billion for the President's plan to hire an
additional 100,000 well-prepared teachers to reduce class size in the early
grades, when children learn to read and master the basic skills. This year's
budget provides $1.75 billion, a $450 million increase -- enough to fund nearly
49,000 teachers. Nearly 30,000 teachers have already been hired through the
Class Size Reduction Initiative.
Expanding Choice and Accountability in Public Schools. The
Clinton-Gore Administration has worked to expand public school choice and
support the growth of public charter schools, which have increased from one
public charter school in the nation when the President was first elected to
more than 1,700 today. More than 250,000 students nationwide are now enrolled
in charter schools in 30 states and the District of Columbia. The President won
$145 million in FY 2000 -- and has proposed $175 million in his FY01 budget --
to continue working toward his goal of establishing 3,000 quality charter
schools by 2002.
Teaching Every Child to Read by the 3rd Grade. The President
challenged Americans to unite to be sure that every child can read well and
independently by the third grade. In response to his America Reads challenge,
more than 1,400 colleges have committed more than 26,000 Work Study students to
tutor children in reading, and more than two million children have been taught,
tutored or mentored by national service programs like AmeriCorps, VISTA, and
Foster Grandparents. In addition, colleges and universities that participate in
the Federal work-study program must include at least one tutoring or family
literacy project as part of its community service activities, giving priority
to the employment of work-study students as reading tutors in schools
participating in reading reform efforts. Grants are awarded through the Reading
Excellence Act to high-poverty schools to improve the teaching and learning of
reading.
Helping Students Master Mathematics by the Eighth Grade.
President Clinton issued a Presidential Directive to the Department of
Education and the National Science Foundation to work together to devise an
action strategy for helping students to improve in mathematics. This joint
effort led to the creation of America Counts, an initiative to ensure that all
students master challenging mathematics, including the foundations of algebra
and geometry, by the end of the 8th grade.
Striving for Excellence with National Education Standards.
President Clinton has challenged every state to adopt high standards, and to
test every 4th grade student in reading and 8th grade student in math so that
parents, students, and teacher can tell if students are meeting high standards.
Fifteen of the nation's largest urban school districts, as well as six states
and the Department of Defense schools have joined the President's effort. The
National Assessment Governing Board is developing voluntary national tests for
the 4th and 8th grades, and the National Academy of Sciences is conducting
studies on these tests.
Setting High Standards with Goals 2000. The National Standards
and Testing effort builds upon the success of Goals 2000, President Clinton's
education reform initiative enacted in 1994, which helps States establish
standards of excellence for all children, and plan and implement steps to raise
educational achievement. Communities in virtually every state receive Goals
2000 funds and are using these funds to upgrade the curriculum, improve
teaching, increase parental involvement in schools, and make better use of
computers in the classroom.
Supporting Local Education Reform Efforts. In April 1999, the
President signed into law the Education Flexibility Partnership Act of 1999
(Ed-Flex) to give all states the ability to use federal resources in ways that
best complement local efforts and innovation.
OPENING THE DOORS OF COLLEGE TO ALL AMERICANS
Enacted Hope Scholarships and Lifetime Learning Tax Credits.
President Clinton proposed and passed the HOPE Scholarships and Lifetime
Learning tax credits, which in 1999 were claimed by an estimated 10 million
American families struggling to pay for college. The Hope Scholarship helps
make the first two years of college universally available by providing a tax
credit of up to $1,500 for tuition and fees for the first two years of college.
The Lifetime Learning tax credit provides a 20 percent tax credit on the first
$5,000 of tuition and fees for students beyond the first two years of college,
or taking classes part-time (in 2003, this increases to $10,000 of tuition and
fees). In his FY 2001 budget, the President has proposed expanding the Lifetime
Learning tax credit with a College Opportunity tax cut, which will give
families the option of taking a tax deduction or claiming a 28 percent credit
for the first $5,000 of college tuition and fees through 2002, and $10,000
thereafter.
Expanding Work Study and Pell Grants. One million students will
be able to work their way through college because of the President's expansion
of the Work Study Program, and nearly four million students will receive a Pell
Grant of up to $3,300, the largest maximum award ever. The maximum award has
increased 43 percent under the Clinton-Gore Administration. This year President
Clinton proposed a $77 million increase in Work Study to continue to support
one million awards, and a $200 increase in the Pell Grant maximum award, to
raise it to $3,500.
More Affordable Student Loans. This Administration has introduced
lower fees and interest rates that have saved the average borrower over $500;
more flexible repayment terms, including the option to repay as a share of
income; and a restored tax deduction for student loan interest. The new Direct
Student Loan program-established in 1994-bypasses federally guaranteed lenders
to deliver loans to students more quickly, simply, and cheaply. Together,
students and taxpayers have already saved $15 billion through student loan
reforms.
Paying for College through Community Service. In just five years,
AmeriCorps has allowed 150,000 young people to serve in their communities while
earning money for college or skills training. In 1999, nearly 50,000 young
people had the opportunity to serve and earn an award of up to $4,725 to pay
for college or repay student loans.
Reaching Out to Disadvantaged Students. The TRIO programs are
designed to motivate and support students from disadvantaged backgrounds. TRIO
includes five distinct outreach programs targeted to serve and assist students
as they progress from middle school to post-secondary education. TRIO funding
has increased by two-thirds over the past seven years, to $645 million. The
President's FY 2001 budget provides $725 million for TRIO, an increase of $80
million to help provide assistance to over 760,000 students, 37,000 more than
in 2000.
Established the GEAR-UP Mentoring Program for Middle School
Children. President Clinton and Vice President Gore created and expanded
GEAR-UP, a nationwide mentoring initiative, to help over 750,000 low-income
middle school children finish school and prepare for college. GEAR-UP expands
mentoring efforts by states and provides new grants to partnerships of middle
schools, institutions of higher education, and community organizations, to
provide intensive early intervention services to help prepare over 750,000
students at high-poverty middle schools for college. The President's FY 2001
budget would expand services to 1.4 million students with a 63 percent
increase.
Increased Funding and Grants for Historically Black Colleges and
Universities. The Clinton-Gore Administration increased funding for
Historically Black Colleges and Universities by over $260 million between FY
1992 and FY 2000. Today, America's 105 HBCUs are educating almost 300,000
African Americans.
Enacted a Hispanic Education Action Plan. The Clinton-Gore
Administration is reaching out to Hispanic youth, encouraging them to stay in
school, do well academically and graduate from high school, and go on to
college so that they can compete successfully for good jobs. The Administration
proposed and won funding increases for a Hispanic Education Action Plan in the
FY 1999 budget. As part of this plan, the President and Vice President proposed
significant increases in a number of programs that enhance educational
opportunity for Hispanic Americans. The final FY 2000 budget agreement included
$436 million in increases for programs that help to improve the educational
outcomes of Latinos and limited English proficient students, including Title I
grants to LEAs, Adult Education, Bilingual Education, and TRIO.
Dual Degree Programs for Minority-Serving Institutions. The
Clinton-Gore Administration has proposed a new program to increase
opportunities for students at four-year minority-serving institutions. Students
would receive two degrees within five years: one from a minority-serving
institution, and one from a partner institution in a field in which minorities
are underrepresented. This new $40 million program will serve an estimated
3,000 students.
Helping Students Finish College. This year the President has
proposed new College Completion Challenge Grants to help reduce the college
drop-out rate. Although college enrollment rates have risen, 37 percent of
students that go on to post-secondary school drop out before they get a
certificate or a degree. The problem is especially acute for minorities: 29
percent of African Americans and 31 percent of Hispanics drop out of college
after less than one year, compared to 18 percent of whites. The CCCG program is
designed to address this problem with a comprehensive approach including
pre-freshman summer programs, support services and increased grant aid to
students. This $35 million initiative will improve the chances of success for
nearly 18,000 students.
ENSURING OUR SCHOOLS ARE SAFE PLACES TO LEARN
Coordinating the Federal Government's Response to Youth Violence.
President Clinton created the White House Council on Youth Violence to
coordinate youth violence research and programs throughout the federal
government, and to make information derived from the federal government's
efforts more accessible to the public. Members of the Council include the
Attorney General and the Secretaries of Health and Human Services, Education,
and Labor, as well as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Preventing Violence With the Safe Schools/Healthy Students
Initiative. Evidence shows that a comprehensive, integrated community-wide
approach is an effective way to promote healthy childhood and youth development
and address the problems of school violence and alcohol and other drug abuse.
In 1998, President Clinton signed into law the Safe Schools/Healthy Students
Initiative (SS/HS), an unprecedented joint effort involving the Departments of
Education, Justice, and Health and Human Services to help communities design
and implement comprehensive educational, mental health, social service, law
enforcement services for youth. SS/HS has provided $146 million to 77 local
education authorities who have established formal partnerships with local
mental health and law enforcement agencies. This year, the President has called
for a $100 million expansion of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students
Initiative.
More Police Officers in Schools. President Clinton and Vice
President Gore's community policing grants have been used to fund over 2,000
police officers to work in schools. These officers have been targeted to work
in the 10 percent of America's schools with serious crime problems.
Keeping Schools Safe and Drug Free. President Clinton and Vice
President Gore have increased funding for the Safe and Drug Free Schools
program, which provides grants aimed at eliminating violence to schools serving
40 million children. They have also enacted reforms that make sure that federal
resources go to schools with the most serious problems. Now the President and
Vice President are seeking to require schools receiving funds to adopt
comprehensive school safety plans, use proven anti-drug and gang programs,
intervene with troubled youth, establish security procedures for schools, and
give parents annual school safety reports of drug and violence incidents at
their children's school.
Zero Tolerance for Guns and Weapons in Schools. President Clinton
and Vice President Gore fought for passage for the Gun Free Schools Act, which
requires the expulsion of students caught bringing weapons to schools. In the
act's first two years, over 9,000 students were expelled for weapons
violations.
Engaging the Private Sector in Youth Violence Prevention:
National Campaign Against Youth Violence. In August 1999, President Clinton
announced the formation of an independent, national campaign to engage the
private sector in addressing the problem of youth violence. The Campaign has
developed anti-violence activities including a major media campaign, concerts,
town hall meetings, and in-school and after-school programs. The Campaign also
highlights effective youth violence initiatives in cities across the
country.
Updated July 2000 | 
