At Education Forum, Bush Gets an Earful

George W. Bush came to historic Central High School here Friday to make a point about education. He wound up getting a lesson, too.

Bush chose the high school, site of one of the nation’s most infamous integration battles, to talk about the need to improve educational opportunities for minorities as well as to highlight his own plans for a targeted voucher program, greater accountability and a reduced federal bureaucracy.

“All can enter our schools, but unfortunately, not all are learning,” the Texas governor said. “There is a tremendous gap of achievement between rich and poor, white and minority.”

But in a round-table discussion after his speech, Bush’s program came under repeated fire from teachers, faculty members and the student body president.

One school official talked of the need to pay teachers more. The school board president and principal of Central High School said they needed money to help with a $400-million repair bill for a district saddled with aging buildings and outdated technology.

Student See Vouchers as Wrong Way to Go

“Public education is in the dogfight of its life,” said Rudolph Howard, the school’s principal. “All the ground stomping that we can do so far as grass-roots is concerned is not going to eradicate the need for our physical structures and resources. We need a lift up. We need your help.”

Then Derrick Williams, the school’s 18-year-old student body president, castigated vouchers as a way to improve public education. Williams said public schools, with their outdated facilities, would have difficulty competing with private schools under a voucher system that allows parents to move their children to the school of their choice.

“I think it’s . . . wrong and shouldn’t be done,” Williams said.

Bush gamely fielded the questions one by one. The federal government wasn’t going to provide money for teacher pay raises, he said. And the business community should step in to help improve the public schools’ ability to compete with private schools.

He told Williams that his voucher plan would only affect poorly performing schools that receive federal Title I funding and failed to show improvement in their test scores within three years. “We’re not going to pay for schools that will not change,” Bush said.

And Bush said Vice President Al Gore’s pledge to pay for the building of more schools was unrealistic.

“There’s going to be a lot of discussion about . . . those who say, ‘vote for me, I’m going to build you more buildings,’ ” Bush said. “First of all, the federal government can’t possibly fund enough buildings all around America to be fair and equitable.”

Sue Strickland, local school board president, made a plea for more funding.

“We’re going to have to have resources and find something to support us in these needs,” she said.

Bush abruptly changed the subject: “I appreciate that. Let me say something about accountability measures,” he said.

At a news conference, Bush explained that his program would result in more federal money going directly to school districts to pay for things like teacher training and disadvantaged students. Bush said he did not support the use of federal money for teacher pay, but he said the increase in funds would free up local money that could be used for salaries.

“It could mean more federal money,” he said. “What it won’t mean is more federal mandates.”

Principal Takes Bush to Task

Spokeswoman Karen Hughes said Bush’s visit to Central High School was not a typical Republican action, saying it was the first time in memory that a Republican presidential nominee had visited the school.

But Bush’s message didn’t find much resonance with the public educators in Little Rock.

In remarks after the round-table, Howard, principal of Central High School for seven years, said Bush’s remarks were filled with “catch phrases” that needed to be backed up with a commitment to earmark federal money for teacher pay and new schools.

Howard dismissed the idea of having more federal money trickle down to fill local coffers.

“That’s one of those pie-in-the-sky, hopeful kind of things that have existed for years and years,” he said.

Howard pointedly noted the decidedly interventionist role the federal government had played in Central High School’s history.

In 1957, after Gov. Orval E. Faubus ordered the state’s National Guard to block nine black students from entering Central High School, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the 101st Airborne Infantry to escort the youths to class.

“I believe in local control, but I certainly believe the federal government can be more than a cheerleader,” Howard said. “Had it not been for the federal government stepping in to integrate the schools, where would we be?”

After the high school event, Bush attended a fund-raiser that raised about $350,000, Hughes said.