Bush Unveils Plan to Recruit, Train Teachers

MILWAUKEE —  Texas Gov. George W. Bush continued to woo the critical “mom” vote Thursday, unveiling a $2.9-billion, five-year proposal to improve the recruitment and training of American teachers.

Building on a major reading initiative he announced earlier in the week, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee proposed a four-point plan called “Strong Teachers, Strong Schools,” which would largely expand several existing federal education efforts.

The biggest chunk of the Bush plan would increase by $400 million a year existing federal funds for recruiting and training teachers. The result would be a $2.4-billion annual block grant program to streamline certification, recruit and train teachers and meet the differing needs of individual states.

Bush said also that he would increase the existing “Troops to Teachers” program from $2.4 million to $30 million a year to help retired military personnel make the transition to teaching, particularly in the crucial areas of math and science.

The troops program “says that people coming out of the military should be trained, provided a stipend, encouraged to go in the classroom and teach,” Bush said at an education forum here. “Sen. [John] McCain talked a lot about this in the course of the primaries, and I appreciate him for bringing this issue to our collective attention.”

Another measure in Bush’s education plan--which he has been rolling out in speeches since autumn and hopes will appeal to moderate female voters--would allow teachers to deduct $400 annually for the supplies they purchase for their classrooms but for which they are not reimbursed.

Bush and his Democratic challenger, Al Gore, have both worked to appeal to women through education issues. Bush sees education as part of a strategy to attract women who have voted for President Clinton. Early polls show Bush running even with Gore on education, a traditional Democratic strength.

Bush also reiterated Thursday his earlier support for a so-called teacher protection act, which would shield educators from lawsuits over classroom discipline.

Chester E. Finn Jr., a national expert on teacher education who appeared with Bush at the forum, praised the Texan’s proposal, which he said would give states great flexibility to fill their education needs.

One big debate in teacher training today is whether the emphasis should be on content--what teachers know--or teaching methods--how they interact with their charges.

Finn, a leading proponent of content-based teacher training, said Bush is “pushing back in the direction of content.”

Finn said Bush believes in reform that bubbles up from the schools, unlike Vice President Gore. “I think of the Gore package as push and the Bush package as pull,” said Finn, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a private, nonpartisan educational research organization. Gore would “push money and rules out from Washington and people will somehow change.”

Compared to Gore, who proposes spending $115 billion of the federal budget surplus on education over 10 years, Bush’s education proposals total $13.4 billion over five years.

“I’m not competing on money,” Bush said. “There’s no way I can possibly outspend Al Gore on any program, any place, any time. His motto is vote for me, I’ll spend more money.”

Douglas J. Hattaway, a spokesman for the Gore campaign, said Thursday that Bush’s massive tax-cut plan jeopardizes any education reform the Republican proposes. Bush pegs his tax cut at about $1 trillion over 10 years.

In addition, “Bush’s plan does not match up to Gore’s on requiring accountability for teachers,” Hattaway said. “Bush says he’ll demand more, but his plan does not do that.”

According to the Bush proposal, states that accept the federal training money must establish a teacher accountability system, which “could include such measures as assessment of teachers based on student results, differential pay and subject-specific teacher testing.”

Gore’s plan would require that all new teachers be tested and that low-performing teachers be identified “and removed from the classroom,” Hattaway said.

Bush spoke at Fritsche Middle School, the first charter school in Milwaukee and the third campus he’s visited this week. Another elementary school visit is planned for today.

David Imig, president of the American Assn. of Colleges for Teacher Education, applauded the Bush plan, and said that it was basically in line with bipartisan sentiment surrounding teacher training.

Just because Troops to Teachers and the recruitment and training effort are not new, “that shouldn’t diminish the importance of this,” said Imig, whose organization is a private, nonprofit association of teacher colleges.

What Imig would like to see in the plan, however, would be scholarship programs to attract the best into the classroom and a proposal that addresses first-year teachers, paying for mentors and releasing them to attend workshops and view good teaching in action.

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Education Plans

*

GEORGE W. BUSH (R)

* Would spend $5 billion to ensure that all children can read by the end of third grade.

* Proposes creating a $500-million fund to reward states that improve student performance, as measured by a national sampling test or an equivalent. In states where test scores lag, he would shift 5% of federal education financing to charter schools. Would guarantee $3 billion in loans in two years to help build 2,000 charter schools.

* Favors allowing families to put $5,000 each year per student into tax-free education savings accounts for K-12 expenses.

* Proposes converting federal funds for low-income students into vouchers--roughly $1,500 a year--that parents could use for private schools but only for students in schools that fail to improve.

* Says teachers should be allowed to banish persistently violent or disruptive children from the classroom.

*

AL GORE (D)

* Would spend $3 billion annually to help reduce class sizes nationally to no more than 20 stude nts for all grades and no more than 18 in the early grades. Favors awarding grants to states to build smaller high schools.

* Endorses universal preschool for all 4-year-olds.

* Proposes raises of as much as $5,000 for qualified teachers in poor and rural areas, and an extra $5,000 in pay for “master teachers” meeting even higher standards in those areas.

* Seeks mandatory testing of new teachers.

* Proposes offering scholarships annually to 60,000 college students who commit to teaching in high-need schools for at least four years. Each year would also provide bonuses and training for 15,000 mid-career professionals willing to become teachers.