Bush Renews Vow to Support Schools : Tells Teachers He’ll Keep ‘Education President’ Promise

President-elect Bush, beginning the whirlwind of official activities leading up to his inauguration, today promised 250 top teachers that he will make good on his promise to become “the education President.”

“Education will be on my desk and on my mind right from the start, every day,” Bush told teachers gathered from every state at a forum in the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Paying tribute to their profession, Bush said: “My most important message to American teachers is a message of appreciation. . . . I am awed by your work.

“It is tough work and it’s indispensable work and it deserves as much praise and thanks as any job in any profession in America.

“Certainly you deserve more public recognition than you usually get.”

Dukakis Echoed

Then, adding words similar to those his defeated Democratic rival, Michael Dukakis, often used in the campaign, Bush added, “Teaching should be one of America’s honored professions and I will work to make sure that it is exactly that.”

Teachers invited to the symposium were nominated by state teacher-of-the-year programs, teacher unions, governors, state inaugural committee chairmen and the Republican National Committee’s Teacher Advisory Committee.

“This is my very first event on the inaugural calendar. . . . That’s the way I wanted it, meeting with educators,” Bush said. “I know you’ve heard me say during this campaign that I intended to be the education President. Two days before I begin trying I wanted you to know that I meant it.

“The country is now wide awake to the central role of our schools in determining the future health of our society.”

Budget Constraints

Even under budgetary constraints, Bush said, “we’re going to work to make sure that the nation does what needs to be done for our schools: reward excellence, raise standards, expand choice, publicize success, strive to resolve shortcomings and keep American attention and effort concentrated on further education reform and improvement.”

Bush has promised to convene an education summit of governors, university presidents and other leading educators early in his Administration.

Also today, Lee Atwater--the tough political operator who managed Bush’s presidential campaign--was elected Republican Party chairman and he took office with a call for the GOP to “reach into communities where the Republican message has not yet found a home.”

As Bush’s choice to run the party, the 37-year-old South Carolinian was elected chairman without opposition for a two-year term.

He succeeded Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., who served as chairman of the Republican National Committee for six years, the longest tenure in this century.