*EPF101 05/06/2002
Transcript: White House Daily Briefing, May 6
(Bush/French President Chirac, U.S. education, Bush/Uganda's President Musevini, Middle East/Sharon visit, Burma/Aung San Suu Kyi) (2630)

White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer briefed reporters on Air Force One as they accompanied President Bush to an education event in Southfield, Michigan.

Also briefing were Education Secretary Roderick Paige and Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy Margaret Spellings.

(begin transcript)

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary (Southfield, Michigan)

Release May 6, 2002

PRESS GAGGLE WITH ARI FLEISCHER TO THE TRAVEL POOL

Aboard Air Force One En Route Southfield, Michigan

9:54 A.M. EDT

MR. FLEISCHER: Let me give you an update on the President's day, and we're joined by Secretary Paige and by Margaret Spellings.

The President this morning had his intelligence briefings, followed by FBI briefing. Aboard the flight he called Prime Minister Chirac to wish him congratulations on his recent reelection.

Then the President will arrive at the Vandenberg Elementary School, where he will make remarks on education accountability. The school is part of the President's focus on education reform, translating federal legislative action into classroom results. Secretary Paige joins us as part of his 25-city "no child left behind" tour across America. The Secretary and the President have been visiting several high-performance schools, very often in high-poverty zones, to meet with students, teachers, principals, parents and community business leaders to talk about the important role they play in improving our schools and implementing the No Child Left Behind Act.

The Secretary and Margaret will discuss their many important steps now to implement the federal reforms that went into the law. And this visit is a sign of the President's ongoing dedication to educational improvement in the country.

From here the President will return to Washington, where he will have a White House photo release of the President's participation in National Small Business Week awards. And then the President will meet with President Musevini of Uganda. They will talk about the Millennium Project; they will talk about important regional issues such as the situation in the Congo, the Sudan. They will likely talk about the African Growth and Opportunities Act, or AGOA, and also what to do to help Africa with the AIDS crisis Africa is facing. Uganda is a real leader in Africa in the fight against AIDS.

Q: What business group?

MR. FLEISCHER: The business group is the National Small Business Week, and these are award recipients.

Okay, if there are any questions for Margaret and the Secretary. If there's anything you'd like to add.

Q: Why are we doing this? I mean, the law is there. Does the President have to go implement it now?

SECRETARY PAIGE: Absolutely. Just the law by itself is not going to get the actual work done. What we want to have happen is the achievement gap in this country closed. And we want all students to learn. America is doing a great job in educating some of the children, but we're talking about all of the children, and that requires the kind of effort that we're putting forth.

We want the entire country energized behind this goal. This is a bold goal; no nation has ever tried to educate 100 percent of its children before.

MS. SPELLINGS: The other thing I would add is that the focus is now at the local level and state legislatures. For example, the two states we're going to this week, Michigan and Wisconsin, have assessment systems that test every three -- only in three grades. We're asking them to now test annually in grades 3 through 8.

State legislatures are going to have to meet around that, they're going to have to decide what kind of testing program they want. They're going to have to educate parents about it, they're going to have to educate teachers about it. I mean, the major policy work now is at the state and local level, and that's what we're trying to highlight. And there's tons of work to do.

They have until the '05-'06 year to put these things in place, but they must start now to make sure that no child is left behind, as Secretary Paige said.

SECRETARY PAIGE: We've had the reauthorization of this legislation before several times. But this is such a major departure from business as usual, and so we've got to make sure that everybody's attention is on this. It won't get done the same way it was done in 1994.

MS. SPELLINGS: The other thing I think I would add is tomorrow the President will be meeting with major CEOs from across the country, and what we have found is that when the business community engages and talks about the kind of skills that kids are going to need when they enter the employment world, and the kinds of -- business people have the orientation towards results and towards outcomes and have an accountability focus, so they're a natural ally in this discussion on education reform and closing achievement gap.

And so the President will be meeting with major CEOs from around the country tomorrow, as well as some chief state school officers.

Q: Margaret, can you just explain something to us. It seems to me that you're suggesting that the legislation that was passed, the mandate for testing, requires implementing legislation is a variety of states around the country.

SECRETARY PAIGE: Absolutely.

Q: Okay. How many states don't have that kind of legislation, do you know?

MS. SPELLINGS: We think about 10 to 12 do. They're obviously all meeting all the time and so forth, so the majority of states will need to enact new laws to comply with this new No Child Left Behind Act.

Q: Are you getting a sense that they're not inclined to do that?

MS. SPELLINGS: Oh, no. No, not at all. But I think it's important that
--

SECRETARY PAIGE: In fact, we're making big progress.

MS. SPELLINGS: Absolutely. But it's important that the President come and highlight this important work. This is a major public debate that's going to occur at the state and local level about what kids ought to know and what the standards are, what the passing score is, what 3rd graders should know. And so it's a major, major endeavor for states. And so we are here to highlight and support their work over the next coming years.

Q: Why this particular school? Anything special about it?

MS. SPELLINGS: Vandenberg Elementary is a high-performing school. They have -- it's low-socio-economic kids; they're a year-round school with a major focus on literacy and reading instruction. A principal who is very accountability-oriented, has done a lot with respect to teacher development and bringing teachers along. So it's the kind of example that we want to see around the country. And there are, what the President calls, pockets of excellence around, and Vandenberg certainly is one of them, as well as the schools that he'll be visiting in Wisconsin on Wednesday.

MR. FLEISCHER: Let me give you some info on Vandenberg. It's a year-round school. It's 55 percent African American, 42 percent white; 67 percent of the student population is receiving free or reduced-price lunches. It has the highest free or reduced-price lunch population in the school district. And each year 30 to 50 new students enter the school who do not speak English.

MS. SPELLINGS: Let me just tell you their pattern -- in '89, about 29 percent of the kids performed satisfactorily on the Michigan Achievement Test. By 2001, that was up to 93 percent of the kids at Vandenberg.

SECRETARY PAIGE: It's a can-do place. And we want the rest of the nation to see that it can be done. This is an example of it.

Q: You say it's a year-round school. Does that mean all kids are obliged to attend school throughout the year, or is it a voluntary thing?

MS. SPELLINGS: I don't know exactly what their model is, but typically they have periods where they go and -- go for 8 weeks and off for 6 weeks, and go for 8 weeks. And so there's a continuity in the educational process that you sometimes don't see with a 3-month summer break. So it tends to work very well, particularly for so-called at-risk kids.

MR. FLEISCHER: If there are any questions for Secretary Paige about solving the Middle East crisis -- (laughter.)

Q: We have got questions for you about solving the Middle East crisis.

SECRETARY PAIGE: I think probably if we applied HR-1 to the Middle East we might get something done. (Laughter.)

MR. FLEISCHER: Am I the child that's getting left behind now? (Laughter.)

MS. SPELLINGS: Yes, Ari, in fact, you are. And with that, we're leaving you. (Laughter.)

Q: What is Sharon bringing, and do these documents that Sharon is bringing cloud the issue or complicate the President's task in trying to get Sharon and Arafat to move forward?

MR. FLEISCHER: Well, we'll see what Prime Minister Sharon is bringing. The meeting is tomorrow. The President has not received anything from him yet. Of course, the President will look at anything that the Prime Minister is interested in leaving.

Q: Ari, yesterday it seemed Secretary Powell and Condi Rice sent kind of mixed signals on whether you guys believe that Arafat is the person that you have to deal with on the Palestinian side. Do you believe he is the guy that the Americans and the Israelis have to deal with on the Palestinian side?

MR. FLEISCHER: Yes -- I'm not clear on what they said that's different. They said the same thing. Our policy is that the President made clear in his Rose Garden speech that the Palestinian Authority, which is led by Chairman Arafat, has responsibilities. And that's exactly what Dr. Rice and Secretary Powell said yesterday.

Among those responsibilities are to denounce violence, to stop terrorism, to root out corruption -- which the President is very worried about as one of the real problems that is getting in the way of the Palestinian people having the leadership that is worthy of the cause of creation of a state that's stable and secure.

That's what they both said yesterday.

Q: But do you think that he is the person that you have to deal with as a matter of fact on the ground, or not? Or are you leaving open the possibility that you'll deal with other people?

MR. FLEISCHER: Well, we'll always deal with other people. There's not only one person to deal with, but Chairman Arafat is the representative of the Palestinian people as they have made clear. And so that's why Secretary Powell spoke with him just last week.

Q: Is that the response that President Bush plans to give Sharon, seeing that the expectation is that Sharon is going to say that he wants to propose a peace proposal that sidelines Arafat? Is the President going to make clear that he believes Arafat needs to be part of the process?

MR. FLEISCHER: Well, the President's focus is going to be on peace. The President's focus is on how all the parties can work together to take the next steps to get to political settlements and resolution of disputes. That's where the President is going to spend his time talking.

Q: Does the President expect there to be very hard-lined, stubborn resistance on Sharon's part to the idea of talking to Arafat? I mean, is he braced for just a flat-out "no" from Sharon about dealing with Arafat?

MR. FLEISCHER: The issue is how to continue the productive work that is already taking place, working with the Palestinian Authority. It was efforts with the Palestinian Authority, as well as Arab nations and Israel, that led to successful resolution to the situation in Ramallah, that's making progress in Bethlehem. So the ingredients are there for progress to be made. It just requires time, it requires diligence, and it requires patience.

Q: Ari, any reaction on Aung San Suu Kyi?

MR. FLEISCHER: I believe we'll have something coming out on that shortly. We'll have something formal coming out on that. I think there will be a statement by me a little bit later.

Q: I take it you're pleased?

MR. FLEISCHER: That's the short answer, yes. I'll wait for the statement.

Q: -- Burma?

MR. FLEISCHER: Of course, that's a reference to Burma. Everybody --

Q: I didn't hear the question.

Q: Anything -- while we've been on the plane, to your knowledge, has there been any kind of a deal on Bethlehem, on the Church of the Nativity?

MR. FLEISCHER: No. I think they're still trying to get all the wrinkles settled, wrinkles ironed out.

Q: What's the day with Sharon going to look like tomorrow? Are they going to have lunch together, dinner together?

MR. FLEISCHER: A 4:45 p.m. meeting.

Q: I mean, but that's it? They're not socializing together, it's just a meeting?

MR. FLEISCHER: I think it's just a meeting.

Q: Are you going to have a pool on that? It was TBD on the week ahead.

MR. FLEISCHER: Don't know yet. I haven't looked at that, actually.

Q: Does the President plan to use his charm offensive on Prime Minister Sharon?

MR. FLEISCHER: This will be his 5th meeting with the Prime Minister, and it's going to be a serious meeting and I think the President is going to thank the Prime Minister for helping resolve the situation in Ramallah. It was a good agreement reached that led to the progress. Saudi Arabia played a vital role on that; the Palestinian Authority held their end of the bargain.

And he wants to continue to press the case about the importance of moving forward toward political settlement of the disputes. Security is vital; security is ongoing; security is an integral part of everything. Political solutions have to be a vital part of the mix.

And as I say, this will be his 5th meeting. The next day, King Abdullah of Jordan will be here; that will be the President's 13th meeting with an Arab head of state. By my last count, the President has had I think 53 phone calls, head of state to head of state, with Arab nations. So this is the ongoing diplomacy
-- these are the ongoing diplomatic efforts by the President, personally, in a very volatile area. And of course, Secretary Powell and Dr. Rice are very busy, as well, talking to their counterparts.

And it's a process. And fortunately, for now a little over a week, the process has been marked by more positive steps than backward steps.

Q: -- specific steps you want taken tomorrow? Are you looking for some specific step from tomorrow?

MR. FLEISCHER: I think it's the overall process, it's the overall focus on how to move forward, how to begin the political part of the dialogue, and to make it meaningful and real.

Q: Ari, do you have any idea how many times he's spoken by phone with Sharon?

MR. FLEISCHER: 17. I think it's 17, I said 17.

Q: And 13 with Arab leaders in general, or any --

MR. FLEISCHER: He's had 17 phone conversations with Sharon, 53 phone conversations with Arab leaders. This will be his 5th visit with Sharon, and Wednesday's visit by King Abdullah will be the 13th summit meeting the President has had with an Arab head of state.

Q: Of those 53 phone calls with Arab leaders, is there one Arab leader he's spoken with more?

MR. FLEISCHER: I'd have to look it up. I don't know off the top of my head.

All right, pleasure, everybody.

END 10:09 A.M. EDT

(end White House transcript)

(end transcript)

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