Pupils, Parents Key to School Reform, Republican Says

Policy-makers seeking to improve the nation’s schools must place more emphasis on children and parents, Pennsylvania Gov. Thomas J. Ridge said Saturday.

Ridge used the weekly Republican radio address to complain of past emphasis on satisfying superintendents, school board members and unionized teachers.

“I respectfully suggest that the primary measure of education reform is not whether it’s good for the system and not whether it’s good for the adults employed in that system,” Ridge said. “The primary measure must be whether it is good for children and their moms and dads.”

Ridge, a two-term governor who has expressed interest in the vice presidency, said improving schools is key to winning the war on drugs and solving other social ills. He said the United States must make education “a national imperative.”

“Poverty, urban decay, long-term economic prosperity, a strong national defense--all are within reach if we give our young people the best education in the world,” Ridge said. “And none are in reach if we do not.”

In remarks taped Wednesday before leaving on a 10-day economic development trip to Asia, Ridge praised GOP leaders in Congress and GOP governors for moving toward an emphasis on children and parents.

He noted that Congress recently passed a bill giving states greater freedom in spending federal education dollars. President Clinton signed the measure April 29.

“It’s a new approach to education,” Ridge said. “It gives more control to the people who are closest to the kids and less to the politicians and bureaucrats in Washington. In other words, it puts children first.”

He spoke of efforts in Texas, Florida and Virginia to improve schools and the lives of children. He also talked about Pennsylvania’s publicly financed, privately run charter schools that can “better respond to parents’ desire and students’ needs in their own communities.”

Ridge gave a plug for school choice, although he did not mention his failure to get a Legislature controlled by his own party to approve giving vouchers that parents can use to send their children to the public, private or parochial school of their choice.

“School choice lets parents use a portion of the taxes they pay to do what they believe is best for their children,” Ridge said. “It’s the ultimate in local control. It puts parents and children first.”