Clinton, in Address, to Propose $3.5 Billion for Schools

President Clinton today will propose about $3.5 billion in new spending for education, including a billion-dollar program to boost the quality of teachers and dramatic increases in extended learning programs and Head Start as well as bonuses for schools that improve.

The proposal, outlined by officials in interviews Wednesday, is expected to be the centerpiece of Clinton’s domestic program as he delivers his annual State of the Union address to Congress. The address, which begins at 6 p.m. PST, will be carried live by the major television networks.

The plan, which Clinton is expected to describe as “unprecedented,” is designed to get the jump on congressional Republicans, who have made education one of their top priorities, and to help Vice President Al Gore, who is promoting his own education plan in his presidential campaign.

Administration officials said that Clinton’s new education plan would include these major elements:

* A $1-billion initiative to help improve the quality of teaching by giving grants to high-poverty school districts to help attract high-quality teachers, reduce the number who are not certified, finance teacher education and use mid-career professionals as teachers.

* A $1-billion increase in the widely acclaimed Head Start program for preschoolers--the largest funding increase in its history--to extend the program to 950,000 children. Clinton also plans to seek $600 million to improve child care and education for children under five.

* A $547-million increase in federal grants to expand after-school and summer-school programs that are designed to improve student achievement in areas that have poor schools. The increase would more than double the current $453-million outlay.

The initiative also would include a plan to double the $134 million in grants to states to help turn around failing schools. It would provide $50 million to finance bonuses to states that make exemplary progress and improve student performance.

The State of the Union address all but guarantees modern-day presidents an unparalleled platform for building political momentum for themselves and their proposals. Both houses of Congress attend the event and the address can be seen nationwide on television.

Political analysts expect Clinton to use the address, which presidents traditionally deliver when Congress returns from its holiday recess each year, to try to erase some of the stigma of last year’s impeachment proceedings and to set the stage for a positive legacy in the history books.

But Congress, facing an election campaign itself, is likely to enact only a handful of measures. Among the possibilities are a tax cut package that includes relief for two-wage earner couples and college students and patients’ rights for health maintenance organization customers.

White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart said that Clinton spent most of Wednesday afternoon working on the speech, which has been in the hands of White House speech writers for several weeks.

Lockhart said that the president will urge the GOP-controlled Congress to pare back its plans for a huge tax cut and instead use the bulk of the projected budget surpluses in the next decade to pay off the national debt.

In anticipation of tonight’s address, the White House has been leaking details of a long list of proposals that Clinton plans to make, from providing expanded tax breaks for college students to strengthening federal oversight of nursing homes.

On Wednesday, the White House said that Clinton would propose a series of steps to crack down on fathers who fail to make child-support payments. The measures will include impounding cars belonging to deadbeat dads, seizing their gambling winnings and denying them passports.

Although political observers expect few of these measures to pass, Lockhart reiterated on Wednesday that Clinton believes “this can be a year where we get things done.”

One question is whether Clinton will be able to overcome his penchant for making unusually long speeches. His State of the Union speech in 1995 went on for 81 minutes.

Lockhart jokingly told reporters Wednesday that Clinton’s speech this year would be “so long [that] it’ll only be measured in hours,” rather than minutes. “If we’re less than two hours, it’ll be a great speech,” he cracked.

At a briefing for reporters, Lockhart continued to lambaste the GOP for continuing to propose large tax cuts aimed primarily at middle- and upper-middle-income taxpayers.

He also contended that the Republican-crafted tax cuts would only erode the budget surpluses projected for the next 10 years and would leave little left to spend on new education programs, which Republicans have said they will propose.

“You can’t have the kind of risky tax scheme that they talk about and make the kind of investments that you need to make,” he said.

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President Clinton’s State of the Union address will be carried live tonight on The Times’ Web site starting at 6: https://www.latimes.com