| Some of the Presidents people werent so sureThey were afraid of committing him to a big idea that could get him into trouble by raising expectations of new federal fundingBecause of the deficit and the Presidents no new taxes pledge, that wasnt in the cardsIn the end, the White House came around, thanks to John Sununu, who was then the White House chief of staffSununu convinced his White House colleagues that the governors couldnt go home empty-handed, and I promised to minimize public pressure from the governors for more federal moneyThe final summit declaration said, The time has come, for the first time in Uhistory, to establish clear national performance goals, goals that will make us internationally competitive
At the end of the summit, President Bush hand-wrote me a very cordial note, thanking me for working with his staff on the summit and saying he wanted to keep education reform out there above the fray as we headed into the 1990 midterm electionThe governors education committee immediately began a process to develop the goals, working with the White House chanel bag domestic-policy advisor, Roger Porter, who had gone to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar a year after I didWe worked furiously over the next four months to reach agreement with the White House in time for the Presidents State of the Union address
By the end of January 1990, we had agreed on six goals for the year 2000:
By the year 2000, all children in America will start school ready to learn
By the year 2000, the high school graduation rate will increase to at least 90 percent
By the year 2000, American students will leave grades four, eight, and twelve having demonstrated competency in challenging subject matter including English, mathematics, science, history, and geography; and every school in America will ensure that all students learn to use their minds well, so they may be prepared for responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment in our modern economy
By the year 2000, Ustudents will be first in the world in science and mathematics achievement
By the year 2000, every adult in America will be literate and will possess the knowledge and discount tiffany jewelry skills necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship
By the year 2000, every school in America will be free of drugs and violence and will offer a disciplined environment conducive to learning
On January 31, I sat in the gallery of the House of Representatives as President Bush announced these goals, said they were developed jointly by the White House and the Governors Task Force on Education, and reported that they would be part of a more comprehensive goals-and-objectives statement that we would present to all the governors at their winter meeting the next month
The document the governors adopted in late February was a worthy successor to the 1983 Nation at Risk reportI was proud to have been a part of it, impressed by the knowledge and commitment of my fellow governors, and grateful to the President, John Sununu, and Roger PorterFor the next eleven years, as governor and President, I worked hard to reach the national education goalsWe had set the bar highWhen you set a high bar and reach for it, even if you fall dior short, you wind up well ahead of where you started
I spent the last months of 1989 trying to decide what to do with the rest of my lifeThere were good arguments against running for a fifth termI was discouraged by my inability to raise the funds necessary to keep moving forward in education, early-childhood development, and health careI could stop after ten years, look back on a decade of real accomplishments under difficult circumstances, and leave open the option of running for President in 1992Finally, if I ran again, I might not winI had already served longer than anyone but Orval FaubusAnd the polls indicated that a lot of people wanted a new governor
On the other hand, I loved both politics and policyAnd I didnt want to leave office with the bad taste of 1989s money failures in my mouthI still had an able, energetic, and extremely honest teamThe whole time I was governor, only twice had I been offered money to make a decision a particular wayA company that wanted to win the bid to provide medical services in the prison system offered me a substantial amount through cheap chanel bags for sale a third partyI had the company taken off the bid listA county judge asked me to see an elderly man who wanted a pardon for his nephewThe old fellow had had no contact with state government in decades and obviously thought he was doing what he had to do when he offered me $10,000 for the pardonI told the man it was lucky for him I was hard of hearing, because he might have just committed a crimeI suggested that he go home and give the money to his church or a charity, and said Id look into his nephews case
On most days, I still looked forward to going to work, and I had no idea what Id do if I gave it upAt the end of October, I went out to the state fair, as I did every yearThat year, I sat at a booth for several hours and talked to anyone who wanted to see meAlong toward the end of the day, a man in overalls who looked to be about sixty-five dropped by to visitIt was an enlightening experienceBill, are you gonna run again? he askedI dont know, I repliedIf I do, will you vote for me? I guess soI always have, he answeredArent you sick of me after all these years? I omega usa inquire |