Bush Asks Governors for New Direction for Schools; Head Start Funds Disputed

In a ceremony etched in history and symbolism, President Bush opened his summit conference on education with the nation’s governors Wednesday by describing American public education as “a system unparalleled in the world” that has now fallen far short of its traditional goals.

Speaking on the campus of the University of Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson, Bush called on the governors to join with him in setting new directions and priorities for a sorely troubled educational system.

“Today millions of Americans cannot read,” the President said in Old Cabell Hall. “Some never even make it to graduation, dropping out of school and society as well. Drugs have invaded our classrooms, violence has entered our schoolyards and clearly the enlightened America dreamed of by Thomas Jefferson still eludes us.”

No More Studies

Insisting that “too much is at stake to let partisanship get in the way of progress,” Bush said that “for the good of our children’s education, for the good of the country, if you will, we must decide on a course of action. The time for study is over.”

Although the governors echoed the President’s plea for bipartisanship in public, bickering over federal funding developed as soon as the closed-door sessions of the two-day conference got under way.

California Gov. George Deukmejian said there had been a lot of argument about federal funding “and I think that will continue for the next two days. Nobody expected you’re going to get 50 governors of two parties here without disagreements--especially on this issue of funding. But I wouldn’t describe the discussion as heated.”

During the conference, the governors split into working sessions moderated by Education Secretary Lauro F. Cavazos and William J. Bennett, director of the White House Office of Drug Control Policy and a former secretary of education. President Bush moved from one meeting to another.

‘Outburst of Candor’

Bennett moderated the session in which the argument over federal funding broke out. He described the meeting as marked by “an occasional outburst of candor, which was refreshing.

“There was standard Democratic pap,” Bennett said, “and standard Republican pap and stuff that rhymes with pap, too. . . . It was an hour and a half meeting but 30 minutes were very good. If you go to most conferences on education, you spend days without hearing anything good.”

The argument evidently erupted over Head Start. Many governors have long deplored the failure of the federal government to fully fund the Head Start program of preschool education, which now covers only one of every five children who need it. And they have insisted that full funding of Head Start and similar programs should be one of the national goals proclaimed at the meeting.

But at a session of reporters at the White House shortly before he came here, Bush dismissed the notion of any substantial increases in funding of Head Start. “I’m not going down there saying we’re going to . . . quintuple spending when they’ve got these big fights going on right now . . . for me to live within the law of this land in terms of the budget,” Bush said.

Surprised at Remark

Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas, chairman of the Democratic Governors Assn., showed surprise and a little shock over Bush’s remarks. The President, Clinton told a news conference before the meeting began, has “historically been committed to Head Start” and promised in his 1988 election campaign to fully fund it.

Nevertheless, Clinton insisted that most governors do not intend to spend much time talking about more federal money here. “We say that there may be more money needed,” the governor went on. “But let’s set the goals first. . . . It’s very foolish to come here and get into a fight over spending.”

Before the meeting began, the White House and the governors had agreed that they should try to come up with a series of broad educational goals for the United States. In that way, the governors insist, there will be a way to measure the progress of schools, districts, states and the federal government.

Asked how officials could be held accountable for meeting these goals, Bennett told a news conference: “One governor said his fanny would be out if he didn’t meet his goals.” Bennett did not identify the governor.

The summit comes at a time when many officials look on American education as a system in crisis. American students fall far behind foreign students in international tests of achievement in mathematics and science. And corporate executives complain that young people entering the work force lack the basic skills needed for training in modern industry.

For five years, the governors have been deploring the plight of education and trying to take control of the problem. Although state and local governments finance more than 90% of the costs of education in this country, most governors insist that a national drive for improvement, initiated and then supported by the President, can help them in directing reforms at the local level.

Staff writer James Gerstenzang contributed to this story.