Mrs. Clinton Takes Aim at Giuliani

Speaking to 1,000 teachers’ aides on Saturday, Hillary Rodham Clinton attacked Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani’s positions on education and put herself in the company of Vice President Al Gore as opposing the “Bush-Giuliani” team.

“Will you sell off the school board building or invest in our children’s education? Will you resort to teacher bashing or engage in problem solving?” the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate said to tumultuous cheers from the audience at the New York Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan.

Giuliani, her likely Republican opponent, has been highly critical of the New York City school system and has vowed to sell the Board of Education headquarters, cut the staff and move the offices into a smaller, modern building.

Mrs. Clinton added a line that she has taken to saying only in the last few days: “I’m proud this November I will be on the ticket with Vice President Al Gore. He will make education his priority as president. . . . I will work with him, I will fight with him, I will be by his side as we fix our public schools and put more teachers to work.”

She added: “We know that this is not the priority of the Bush-Giuliani team. That other team, they want to talk about gimmicks like vouchers, and that’s a conversation I’m more than willing to have.”

Giuliani and Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, both support vouchers. Mrs. Clinton and Gore do not.

The mayor has defended his school policies as efforts to reform the city’s much-criticized education system. He has taken credit for putting police in charge of school safety, ending tenure for principals and stopping social promotion for students.