Bush to Urge New Kinds of Schools, Report Says

President Bush plans this week to propose a major education initiative that would include federal investment into development of new kinds of schools, national student testing and letting parents choose what school their children attend, according to a published report.

Bush will announce the proposals Thursday as part of his bid to fulfill his 1988 campaign vow that, “I want to be the education President,” the New York Times reported in today’s editions.

The program, assembled by Education Secretary Lamar Alexander, calls for several hundred million dollars in new federal expenditures, according to a senior Administration official cited but not named by the newspaper.

The money--less than what was sought last month by Democrats on the Senate and House budget committees--would be used mainly for grants to encourage states and localities to try new teaching methods.

Bush has approved a 200-page version of the plan, but it was still being worked on over the weekend, the newspaper reported.

One official involved in drafting the plan told the newspaper that the grants for “a new generation of American schools” probably would draw the most attention.

He predicted development of several hundred schools run differently from most of today’s public schools. Some might be run by private industry and may have longer school days or years, among other approaches.

Another section of the plan concerns “better and more accountable schools,” which focuses on improving existing schools.

The major emphasis is likely to be on testing, one Administration official said, and would involve development of a system of tests in English, mathematics, science, history and geography.

Those scores might be used as a basis for allocating education funds, with schools that improved getting more aid, said the official, who called this “deregulating education.”

Another way to improve the existing schools would be to offer financial incentives for school systems to allow parents to pick which school their children attend, thus encouraging “freedom of choice.”