Clinton Promotes School Rehab Plan
CHICAGO (AllPolitics, April 8) -- President Bill Clinton said Wednesday the renewal of the nation's secondary schools should be a national priority.
The president called for a multibillion-dollar effort to renew the nation's schools. "The most important infrastructure of tomorrow is the infrastructure of education," Clinton said.
Clinton joined Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Ill.) in support of a tax-incentive program he said could help finance the construction of more than 5,000 new schools and assist in the repair of others.
"Having good schools is a national priority," the president said. "This is big stuff; this is exciting."
Clinton toured Rachel Carson School on Chicago's South Side. He inspected new classrooms and viewed those built 80 years ago. Most of the old classrooms are still in us, but some are in such a state of disrepair that they can only be used for storage.
Clinton said a quarter of U.S. schools need major repairs and nearly half "don't have the wiring system to achieve my goal of wiring every American school to the Internet."
As part of his education blueprint, Clinton has called for the hiring of 100,000 new teachers and limiting elementary class sizes to 18 students.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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