Thank you for having me here today at Thomas Jefferson High.  Your school – like all our schools – is on the frontlines of America’s future.  Here young people get the education they need to succeed and thrive and have the opportunity to become good citizens of this great nation.

Education is a subject that hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves in this presidential race.  But no subject is more important to determining what kind of country we are – and what kind of country we are going to be.

I want to spend some time with you discussing what I would do in my first hundred days as President to strengthen our K to 12 public school systems.  Because I believe campaigns should be about telling people what they’re going to get when they cast their vote for President.

Americans deserve more than a campaign of slogans and soundbites.  They deserve substance.  They deserve real answers, not just anger.  You see, this election is not just about replacing George Bush – it’s about changing the direction of our country.  People in Iowa don’t trudge through the snow on a cold January night just because they support a candidate.  You do it because you love America – and want it to be better.  And you deserve to know what I – and every other candidate – would do to make this nation all it should be.

In my first hundred days, I will begin a new era of responsibility when it comes to our public schools.  I’ll take the politics out of public education funding.  And I’ll end George Bush’s bait-and-switch.  This President promised to give our schools the help they need – but he broke that promise and instead gave that money to the most powerful and wealthy people in our country.

What George Bush has given our students, their parents, our teachers and all our education professionals is a Raw Deal.  He’s favored tax cuts for the wealthy and special favors for the special interests over what’s fair for middle class Americans.  He’s buckled to lobbyists and the powerful instead of standing up for everyday Americans.  This Administration’s motto really should be “no special interest left behind.”

I’m running to replace George Bush’s Raw Deal with a Real Deal that stands up to the powerful interests. That’s built on people and products not privileges and perks.  That stands on the side of those who are standing up for what’s right.  And that makes our public schools the priority they need to be.

Investing in our students is investing in our future.  This school’s namesake – Thomas Jefferson – knew this.  He decided that when he died, his grave-marker – on a shaded hill near his home in Virginia – wouldn’t mention that he was America’s first Secretary of State or that he was Vice President or even that he served as President of the United States.  But he wanted it to say that he was the father of the University of Virginia.  Because he valued education and all it meant.

Early in his career, he fought to make education public and universal and free.  So that every young person would have an equal shot at success.  So that the chance to learn and grow wasn’t just a birthrate of the privileged – but a guarantee for all.

A few years before he died, Jefferson was still fighting to make this a reality.  He said that – quote – “A system of general instruction, which shall reach every description of our citizens from the richest to the poorest” was his first concern in public life and that it would end up being his last.

Two hundred years later, we’re still fighting to make public education equal and available to all. We need to take the next big step in making that happen.  I will lead into law a new National Education Trust Fund that will finally guarantee we fully fund our schools.  It will protect our children’s education from politics.

Today, education spending is set by Congress every year. That means it is vulnerable to Presidents like George W. Bush who send new mandates to the states, but don’t provide the necessary funding. With the National Education Trust Fund, never again will teachers and parents and students have to worry about the whims of politicians in Washington.  The funds our students need will be there – year in and year out.  Americans will be able to depend on it.  Because our future depends on it.

We will make a new deal on education – if Washington is going to mandate something for our schools, then the funding should be mandatory.

Iowa knows first-hand why this is important.  George Bush proved it by sticking our states with the tab for No Child Left Behind.  At the time of the debate on that bill, I insisted on the importance of the President keeping his promise.  I said: “Either we fund education reform to the degree that will empower it to actually take place or we will invite an incredible new round of cynicism.”  President Bush signed the bill and in his own act of cynicism quickly walked away from the agreement he just made.   If No Child Left Behind were being fully-funded this year, Iowa would be getting additional $42 million in help for schools like this one.  And that would make a huge difference.

And the National Education Trust Fund means the federal government will meet its full commitment to special education so that children with disabilities get the education they deserve.  Our funding for special education shouldn’t come at the expense of other critical education programs.

By choosing tax cuts for the wealthy and giveaways for special interests over help for our schools and states, George Bush has left our states in the lurch.  States like Iowa have had to lay off teachers, close schools, and shorten school years.  The Council Bluffs School District has been forced to slash $1 million from this year’s budget.  That is exactly the wrong direction for America. And the National Education Trust Fund will end that.

I supported the No Child Left Behind Law because of my commitment to assuring every child can meet high standards.  George Bush has talked the talk, but he’s walked away from the funding he promised for that bill.  I will hold George Bush accountable for making a mockery of the words Leave No Child Behind.  And my National Education Trust Fund will guarantee our schools get the funding they need and the funding they deserve.

And then I will go further with important changes to this law to make sure students can reach high standards.  That means judging schools on more than just test scores.  It means rewarding, not punishing, the states that make progress and implement high standards.  And it means ensuring this law works for our teachers, our states, our schools, and our students.

I know something about this first hand.  Earlier this year, I visited the Mary Curley Middle School in my hometown of Boston.  There I saw a teacher who was loved by her students and doing a great job in teaching them and getting them ready for their future.  I have to admit, I’m a little biased about her.  Her students called her Ms. Kerry.  I call her my sister, Diana.

She and the other teachers I’ve met go far and above the call of duty for their students – sometimes spending a thousand dollars of their own money to give their classes something better than long outdated textbooks.  They give their all everyday to students whose whole lives will depend on the opportunities that only a high-quality education can provide.

But the Bush Administration has sold our future short and sold out on its promises to America’s kids.  Because of the choices of this President, the budget of the Mary Curley Middle School got cut by twenty percent.  That meant larger class sizes, less opportunity and less hope.

And it meant that my sister Diana was laid off because of budget cuts – instead of being rewarded for making a difference.  Let me tell you, we should be hiring new teachers and paying them more – not sacrificing the great teachers we already have.

 The kids here today – and all our public school students – deserve better.  They deserve a President that values their education as much as their teachers do.  With your help, I’ll be a President who will make our public schools a priority, not an afterthought.

And that means making our teachers a priority.  Everything we know tells us that good teachers make all the difference.  But our teachers are drowning in praise from politicians while they’re parched for the support they need.  We need to hire new high-quality teachers and get them to the urban and rural schools that need the most help.  I will provide teachers, principles, and other education support professionals with a $10,000 tax deduction as an incentive to go work in the schools with the greatest need.  It would be a great investment in our future.

And I believe that we cannot successfully improve public education without paying our teachers like the professionals that they are. My proposal will provide higher pay for teachers in exchange for putting in place higher standards.  We need to help schools and school districts who giving teachers quality training and mentors and who guarantee they have a plan in place to attract and keep qualified teachers.  Under my plan, teachers in those schools will get a $5,000 salary bonus. America’s teachers do some of the most important work in America – and we ought to reward it.

I will recruit and train great new principals.  I will assure discipline in our schools by removing violent and disruptive students from our classrooms and placing them in “second-chance schools” where they can get their lives back on track.  And I will fight to build and rebuild, modernize and repair our school buildings with new school modernization bonds.  One out of three schools needs major renovations and our school facilities are in worse condition than any other part of our nation’s infrastructure. That’s a national disgrace – and we have to change it. We can’t provide a 21st century education in 19th century schools.

We need a President who will tell the truth about vouchers – that they weaken public education, make it harder to build good citizens, and hurt those most in need. Don’t cry crocodile tears for inner city kids while trying in effect to destroy inner city schools.  Vouchers aren’t choice; they’re a bad choice that would leave even more children behind.    They don’t reform our public schools – they run away from them. Instead let’s reform education by giving teachers more freedom by ending the one-size-fits-all, cookie cutter approach to schools. That’s my resolve, and my commitment – and as President, I’ll fight for real change and real resources for our public schools. I have never supported vouchers.  I will never support them.  And if it ever comes to my desk, I’ll veto vouchers or voucher-like programs the day that bill arrives.

I will make after-school universal for America’s children.  There are seven million latch-key kids returning to an empty home after school.  George Bush wants to make cuts that would push 550,000 children across the country out of after-school programs. Its time after-school was available to every child that wants it.

And, as President, I will make early childhood education a top national priority. Our early childhood education system will be a model for the world.  There are people all across America who are leading the way.  One of them is here with us today.  Connie Gronstal runs FAMILY – one of the great after-school programs in Council Bluffs.  FAMILY stands for Fathers and Mothers Improving the Lives of Young children.  But it stands for something more.  It stands for people taking responsibility for their communities and for the future of this country.  People like Connie Gronstal and all those who work with her.  In just about 13 years, FAMILY has grown to serve 600 children – and we need a President who will help make sure it can serve even more.

Children’s success in school starts with early childhood education.  A real commitment to education starts with a President who will get this done.  And electing a President who will get that done starts here in Iowa in January.  As many of you might know, 17 year olds can caucus here in Iowa.  If you’re 17 by the caucuses, you can make your voice heard.  And I urge you to do it.  Your future – your country’s future – depends on it.  And you can make all the difference.

Your courage can change this country.  Your courage can create an America that does what’s right.  And it starts with you on January 19th.  Your courage can break the grip of special interests and win back our economic future.  Your courage can save our environment, raise up our schools, and finally open up health care to all.  Your courage can end discrimination once and for all.  Your courage can defend this nation’s ideals.  Your courage can put America back to work and put George Bush and Dick Cheney on a bus back to Texas.  I ask for your vote.  I ask for your help.  Go to johnkerry.com.  Together we can make it happen.