Speech #2, Hilton Head Island, SC

[George W. Bush]

(George W. Bush walks onto the Stage in the auditoria of Hilton Head High School, In Hilton head South Carolina)
(Applause)

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all very much for having me hear to speak at your great school. Now I know you all want to get back to class, so I will make this brief. (Laughter)

This is second stop in this campaign for me. And there's a reason why it's one of the first stops, is I am dedicated to doing everything I to improve public education hear in the South East. You can't have a successful Atlasia without a public school system that's working to the best of its abilities. I'm optimistic we can continue to achieve that goal.

If Elected I’m going to work hard to keep this economy of ours strong so people can find work. And one way to do so is to keep your taxes low and to reduce the burden of needless regulations on our nation's employers. (Applause.) Looking forward to making sure that, to the best of my ability, that health care is more affordable and available to all people, Not just the people who live in the suburbs and make 100,000$ a year (Applause.)

To keep this great land of ours prosperous and to keep this country hopeful, we've got to make sure these public schools of ours stay strong. I want to leave behind the old attitude that it's okay for some students just to be shuffled through the system. That's not okay. I want to change the system that too often had given up on a child, primarily those children whose mothers or dads didn't speak English as a first language or those children who may be growing up in inner-city Atlasia, whose mom or dad didn't have big income levels. I believe, and most people believe that every child can learn, every child has potential to be great, and Every child a bright future in Atlasia! (Applause)

And so I want to raise the standards for every public school in Atlasia. If you believe every child can learn, then it makes sense to raise the bar, not lower the bar. If you believe every child can learn, then it makes sense to measure to determine whether every child is learning. That's called accountability, accountability for results. It’s is so crucial to achieve our goal for every child learning to read, write, add and subtract. Accountability helps to correct problems early, before it is too late. Accountability enables a good teacher to test a curriculum as to whether or not that curriculum is working. Accountability allows principals and teachers to determine whether methodology is working. Accountability also is a way to make sure parents stay involved in the educational systems across this great country.

Accountability systems don't work unless there are consequences. There needs to be consequences for the school. If a school is not raising the bar, or not giving there kids the best chance to succeed in the world, then the parents should have options. Like free after school tutoring, or government grants to send there kids to those “rich” private schools across town. (Applause.)

The results in Florida are strong. Last school year, 69 percent of the schools met their target for progress. That's up 10 percentage points from the previous year. That's great. Except now I want to focus on the other 31 percent, and I know the government here in the south East will be as focused, as well. Sixty-nine percent and an increase of 10 percent is really good news.

But one day, I hope a future president, or governor or Senator can stand up and say, we're up to 100 percent success in Florida, and the South East and all of Atlasia! That's what I want. I’m not interested in mediocrity. I’m interested in excellence, so not one single kid does not get the education they need or deserve (Applause.)

And, finally, I believe the federal government should put a program together to help reward success for our teachers, I fund that would give successful teachers well deserved bonuses. And use some of the money we have been using for decades on useless government programs to give teachers a salary increase, Teachers should be the highest paying job in Atlasia, without them we have no Educated Kids, and without them, we have no future.

Thank you for letting me come by to visit. God bless you all. Thank you. (Applause.)