Bush Proposal Pushes to Improve Student Performance

VANCOUVER, Wash. —  Targeting what he called “the achievement gap” in America’s schools, George W. Bush on Monday proposed devoting $400 million to study the best ways to improve student performance through technology.

Bush would also restructure the way the federal government spends $3 billion on school technology each year, giving schools greater freedom to choose the equipment and methods best suited to their needs.

But Bush, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, warned that the most important goal should still be getting students to learn.

“The goal ought not to be having every classroom wired but how we are teaching our children,” said Bush during a visit to Eleanor Roosevelt Elementary School in Vancouver in southern Washington.

While he acknowledged that the Clinton administration has made strides in bringing Internet connections to schools--95% now are wired, compared to 35% in 1994--Bush said too little is being done to ensure the technology gets results.

Under his plan, $80 million would be available every year for five years to create a national clearinghouse to conduct research on the best instruction methods and provide that information to schools.

Bush and his wife, Laura, toured the school’s computer lab, where young students worked on their reading skills at a couple dozen bright green iMacs. In a 10-minute walk around the room, Bush met children born in Gambia, Russia and Mexico, speaking briefly in Spanish to a local mother and her two children.

Bush said he believes technology, if used properly, may be the key toward narrowing the gap between at-risk students and those who excel. But, he said, the current system is “hide-bound with rules and regulations” that make it hard for school officials to apply for grants and use the money in the ways they most need it.

To cut through red tape, Bush would consolidate $730 million distributed annually through eight separate Department of Education programs with the $2.25 billion spent each year on “E-Rate” programs run by the Federal Communications Commission. That program helps needy schools install hard-wiring for Internet access.

The proposal was announced at the start of a three-day presidential campaign swing through the West Coast that is expected to raise nearly $6 million for the Texas governor’s campaign coffers, including a fund-raiser Monday night at the Palo Alto home of Cisco Systems Chief Executive John Chambers.

Earlier Monday, while flying from Austin, Texas, to Vancouver, Bush shook his head and jabbed his finger in the air when asked about Vice President Al Gore’s plan to offer people tax credits so they could create private retirement accounts.

Bush has proposed allowing Americans to invest a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes in the stock market, a strategy Gore denounced as risky.

Bush charged that his Democratic opponent has flip-flopped on the issue, first embracing the idea, then calling it “unbelievably risky” and now returning to the concept again.

He addressed the issue again in front of news cameras, after speaking to a small crowd of educators and parents at the elementary school.

“First the stock market was roulette and risky, and now he’s changed his position,” Bush said. “What America wants is somebody who stays steady when it comes to public policy.”

The Gore proposal does not call for diverting a portion of Social Security taxes into the stock market. The investment accounts would be in addition to Social Security benefits.

Bush will campaign in California through Wednesday and said he is hopeful about his chances there, particularly among people who once voted Republican but switched to Reform Party founder Ross Perot in the last election.

“The state in the past has been a right-of-center state,” he said. “The Republican Party in California is anxious for a boost.”

Bush said his mission has been to set a new tone for the GOP, one he said should appeal to the burgeoning populations of Latinos, small-business owners and the middle class.

Bush said he is sensitive to the concerns of those voters in California, where the Republican Party has backed legislation some viewed as anti-immigrant. “We have been seen as overly judgmental, overly harsh,” he said.