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Special Event

Gore Delivers Education Speech in Nashville, Tennessee

Aired October 25, 2000 - 11:52 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Still watching politics now. The vice president speaking in Nashville, Tennessee, his home state. The topic today is education.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

VICE PRES. AL GORE (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And my concern about the Bush plan is that it is made up of half measures that fall short of what we need to really get the job done. I won't be satisfied until every school in America is a world-class school. So let me put it simply.

(APPLAUSE)

Let me put it simply and directly. You elect me president, I will bring about major change in education by fighting to raise standards for every child and provide new choices for every family, and making our schools the best in the entire world. We can do it and we will do it.

(APPLAUSE)

This is one of the biggest issues at stake in this election. If we want prosperity to mean anything, if we want to make sure that every American can master the new job manuals and seize the full promise of this new and changing economy, surf the World Wide Web, prepare for the 21st century, then we have to shake up the status quo in our school. Yes, many of our local schools are making progress. But, yes, we can do a lot better, and we must.

And I believe with all my heart, that we have to make a considered decision in this election of the year 2000 to make education our number-one national priority. It should be right at the top of the list.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, of course, that means something more than government programs. It means summoning all parents to take more real responsibility for their children's education. It means challenging a new generation to seek careers in teaching, and it means treating and rewarding teachers like the professionals that they are.

(APPLAUSE) But it also means, it also means, a sweeping national commitment to education; to raise standards for every child, and to give more choice in education to all American families.

My plan begins by focusing on the classroom, because that's where learning takes place, and that is where standards really have to be lifted. We have to hire 100,000 new, qualified teachers to reduce class size. So there is more one-on-one time, more discipline and respect, and greater emphasis on fundamentals.

(APPLAUSE)

To me, education is all about raising standards and expanding choices. Raising standards to help our children learn more and ultimately earn more in this new economy. Providing choices so that parents can help their children do better and go further, with their own hard work and initiative.

We should let all of our families have the choice of high-quality preschool for their kids by making preschool available and by making child care more accessible and refocusing it on learning by expanding Head Start, and by making high-quality preschool available on a voluntary basis to every 4-year-old in the entire United States of America.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

We should let all families have the choice of an excellent public school for their children with more public charter schools run by teachers and parents, according to standards, free to adopt a cutting- edge curriculum and approach. And we should let every family have the chance and the choice of sending a son or a daughter to college by making up to $10,000 a year of college tuition tax deductible for every middle class family in the entire country.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, my opponent, Governor Bush, has a different approach because he has different priorities. He would give more in tax cuts to the wealthiest 90,000 multi-millionaires than he would give in the form of all the new investments he has proposed to make in all 90,000 public schools combined.

Let me repeat that. Under his proposal, he would spend more money on tax cuts to the wealthiest 90,000 multi-millionaires, than all of the new spending he proposes in all of the 90,000 public schools combined.

HEMMER: Vice President Al Gore on the stump in his home state, Nashville, Tennessee, talking about the tax cuts and also talking before that about the issue of education. Election 2000, only 13 day away, and all of the polling suggests it is still close call. Interesting, interesting, time. The vice president from Tennessee.

We had Governor Bush on earlier from Daytona Beach in the state of Florida. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

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