Dec. 17 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1993

Remarks Announcing the Annenberg Foundation Education Challenge Grants December 17, 1993

Thank you very much, Secretary Riley and safe schools act so that we don’t have 160,000 Secretary and Mrs. Bentsen, Deputy Secretary kids stay home every day because they’re afraid of Education Madeleine Kunin. I want to men- to go to school; establishing a system of lifetime tion some of the people who are here. I’m glad learning. These things make a real difference. to see Senator Kennedy, Senator Pell, and Con- But if I have learned one thing in all the years, gressman Reed here, and my former colleagues in all the countless hours that Hillary and I and friends Governor Romer and Governor have spent in public schools all across this coun- Edgar, Dr. Gregorian and David Kearns and try, it is that the true magic of education in Ted Sizer and Frank Newman and so many the end occurs between teachers and students people that I’ve worked with over the years. and principals and parents and those who care When Walter Annenberg was giving his very about what happens in the classroom and out- brief statement, it reminded me of a comment side the classroom. that the President with the best developed mind, And one of the things that has plagued me Thomas Jefferson, once said. He said, ‘‘You all these years is seeing all the successes, be- know, if I had more time I could write shorter cause, I tell you, I have tried to focus the Amer- letters.’’ [Laughter] So I think he said all that ican people in the last several weeks on the needed to be said. crime and violence that is consuming so many Walter and Leonore Annenberg have done millions of our young people. But what is impor- a remarkable and truly wonderful thing on this tant for America to know is that there is another day in giving the largest private gift in American reality out there. There are two realities that history to the future of America’s children. It are at war, one with the other. There is the could not have come at a better time. In a reality that we all see: too many guns and too moment all of you will repair to another place much violence in schools that don’t function. and discuss in greater detail exactly what this There is another reality: In the most difficult gift will do and how it will be done. But since circumstances you can find anywhere in this I spent the better part of my life in public country, there are children and parents who service laboring to improve public education, I obey the law, who love their country, who be- want the press and the American people to lieve in the future, and who are in schools work- know that there are two things that are impor- ing with teachers who are succeeding by any tant about this gift: its size and the way the standard of international excellence against all money is going to be spent. the odds. It could not come at a better time, 10 years Therefore, it is clear that the most pressing after the issuance of ‘‘A Nation At Risk’’ report need in this country today, the most pressing and on the eve, we all earnestly hope, of the need, is to have a standard of excellence by passage of our ‘‘Goals 2000 Act,’’ which attempts which all of us can judge our collective efforts, to put into law a mechanism by which the down to the smallest schoolroom in the smallest United States can achieve the national education community in America, and then to have a sys- goals adopted by the Governors and by the Bush tem to somehow take what is working against administration jointly in 1989. all the odds and make it work everywhere. In our legislation, we attempt to set high aca- All these people who are in this room who demic standards, to give our country world-class have devoted their lives to education are con- schools, to give our children a way to fulfill stantly plagued by the fact that nearly every their dreams instead of their nightmares, along problem has been solved by somebody some- with the other things we’ve tried to do: reform- where, and yet we can’t seem to replicate it ing the student loan program; opening the doors everywhere else. Anybody who has spent a seri- of college to everyone; trying to develop a na- ous amount of time thinking and looking about tional system of moving from school to work this knows that that is the central challenge of for those who don’t go to college; pushing a this age in education.

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That’s why Ted Sizer has devoted his career of measuring whether we’re meeting them, and to establishing a system which can be recreated here’s a way of recognizing that in reality all and adapted to the facts of every school. That’s these things have to happen school by school, why David Kearns left a brilliantly successful neighborhood by neighborhood, student by stu- career in business and wrote a book about what dent. And what is our excuse, when we can works in reinventing schools. That’s why my give you a hundred examples of where it’s work- friend Frank Newman stopped being a univer- ing, for not having thousands and thousands and sity president and went to the Education Com- thousands examples of where it’s working? mission of the States and every year hounded That is the magic of what is being done. This Governors like me to help him, because we is a very, very important day for American edu- knew that there were examples that work, and cation and for America’s future. And the people nobody has unraveled this mystery. That’s why in the United States will forever be in the debt people often run for Governor and stay Gov- of these two fine people. ernors of States, believing that we can somehow Thank you very much. have the alternative reality that is out there pre- vail in the end. And the way this money is going to be allo- NOTE: The President spoke at 10:34 a.m. in the cated is just as important as how much money Roosevelt Room at the White House. In his re- is being offered, because Walter Annenberg has marks, he referred to Gov. Jim Edgar of Illinois; challenged the rest of us to match his efforts Gov. Roy Romer of Colorado; Vartan Gregorian, today and in a way is challenging America to president, Brown University; David Kearns, presi- realize that there are millions of good kids and dent, New American Schools Development Corp.; good teachers and good efforts being made out Theodore R. Sizer, chairman, Coalition for Essen- there. And the time has come for us to say, tial Schools; and Frank Newman, president, Edu- here are the national standards, here is a way cation Commission of the States.

Statement on Signing the Government Securities Act Amendments of 1993 December 17, 1993

Today I have signed into law S. 422, the I am pleased that the legislative process ‘‘Government Securities Act Amendments of achieved compromises acceptable to the many 1993.’’ S. 422 permanently reauthorizes the interested participants. I thank all involved for Treasury Department’s rulemaking authority their hard work culminating in the enactment under the Government Securities Act and ex- of this comprehensive and needed legislation. tends important investor protections to the Gov- As a result of their efforts, the Federal Govern- ernment securities market. It also provides im- ment now has the tools necessary to ensure the portant new surveillance tools to the Depart- continuing integrity, efficiency, and liquidity of ment of the Treasury and the Securities and the Government securities market. Exchange Commission. This legislation will help WILLIAM J. CLINTON maintain the confidence of investors in the in- tegrity of the Government securities market. It The White House, will thus ensure that the Treasury has access December 17, 1993. to an efficient and liquid market, which is vital to selling the Government’s debt at the lowest NOTE: S. 422, approved December 17, was as- possible cost. signed Public Law No. 103–202.

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