1990 George H. W. Bush - Education Summit with Governors

In 1989, President Bush invited the National Governor's Association (NGA) to a summit in Charlottesville, Virginia to establish goals for reforming America's education system.   49 Governors came together in Charlottesville to work with the administration to establish 7 main goals for education.  These goals became the centerpiece of President George H.W. Bush's State of the Union address in 1990.  They were lofty goals that not only established more a rigorous standards-based education system but opened the door to more federal involvement in k-12 education.   Over the years real progress was made, especially in basic reading assessment, but today graduation rates are still below the 90% rate desired and we rank 38th in math and 24th in science, not first.

By the late 1980's the need for education reform especially in many of the Southern states had grown to a fever pitch.  It started in the 1970's when the high expectations of programs like Head Start and other federal compensatory programs were not met.  Most notably the IQ gains that were so much touted were found to be only transitory and quickly faded as the child progressed through elementary school.  Furthermore, many of the follow-through programs that were designed to help transition Head Start children into regular classrooms were found to be ineffective.  Eventually, the public lost interest in these programs and shifted their attention to efforts to desegregate the schools.  By the mid-1980s it became widely accepted by both the American public and policymakers that the United States was facing an unprecedented and escalating crisis in education.  During the hard-economic times of the early 1980s, policymakers began to blame the economic downturn on inadequate public schools.   We were a nation at crisis with high school graduation rate less than 75% and almost 13% of 17 yr. olds in school being functionally illiterate.  America was falling far behind competing countries like Japan.  The educational system in the South was at a particular disadvantage and manufacturers were increasingly hesitant to open new factories in the southern states. 

In 1988, the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), an influential regional organization of southern governors, legislators and education officials published a report entitled, "The Need for Quality".   In this report, they listed 12 goals that should be reached by the year 2000 (Vinovskis 1999).

1. All children will be ready for the first grade.
2. Student achievement for elementary and secondary students will be at national levels or higher.
3. The school dropout rate will be reduced by one-half.
4.  90 percent of adults will have a high school diploma or equivalency.
5. 4 out of every 5 students entering college will be ready to begin college-level work.
6. Significant gains will be achieved in the mathematics, sciences, and communications competencies of vocational education students.
7.  The percentage of adults who have attended college or earned two-year, four-year, and graduate degrees will be at the national averages or higher.
8. The quality and effectiveness of all colleges and universities will be regularly assessed, with particular emphasis on the performance of undergraduate students.
9. All institutions that prepare teachers will have effective teacher education programs that place primary emphasis on the knowledge and performance of graduates.
10. All states and localities will have schools with improved performance and productivity demonstrated by results.
11. Salaries for teachers and faculty will be competitive in the marketplace, will reach important benchmarks, and will be linked to performance measures and standards.
12. States will maintain or increase the proportion of state tax dollars for schools and colleges while emphasizing funding aimed at raising quality and productivity. 

The goals were well received by the media and the public.  The subject of Education reform became a major campaign issue in the 1988 Presidential election.   From the very beginning of his campaign, George H.W. Bush emphasized that he wanted to be the "Education President" and in his first year as president, he made education a top priority in his fiscal year 1990 budget.

In the summer of 1989 at a National Governors Association (NGA) meeting in Chicago, President Bush took the opportunity to invite the governors to a “a summit to share ideas and to explore options for educational progress.”  Despite initial disagreements on the agenda and goals of the meeting, Governor Clinton chair of the Democratic Governor’s Association sent a memo to his Democratic Colleges that he was satisfied that the meeting would be more substance than show.  The Governors, the President and members of President Bush's staff gathered from September 27-28 1989 in Charlottesville at the University of Virginia. The key players in the summit other than President Bush were Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, Michael Cohen, Roger B. Porter, Colorado Governor Roy Romer, and Iowa Governor Terry Branstad. There were tensions over educational funding and local versus federal control, but on September 28 the President and the governors issued a joint communication on the need for reform and goals that should be met by 2000.  The members of the summit narrowed the list of goals down to seven versus the 12 published by SERB.

1. All children will be ready for the first grade.
2. Student achievement will rise to internationally competitive levels, especially in math and science.
3. Disparities in achievement levels of students of different races and economic backgrounds will be dramatically reduced.
4. The dropout rate will be reduced dramatically.
5. The percentage of high school graduates going on to some form of postsecondary education will be increased to a point sufficient to give them opportunities to get good jobs with growing wages and to reverse the alarming earnings decline among younger workers.
6. Illiteracy among adult Americans will be virtually eliminated.
7. Schools will have the well-trained teachers and the modern technology they need to be competitive.  (Vinovskis 1999).

These goals became the centerpiece of President Bush's comments on education in his 1990 State of the Union Address,

"And one more thing: Last fall at the education summit, the Governors and I agreed to look for ways to help make sure that our kids are ready to learn the very first day they walk into the classroom. And I've made good on that commitment by proposing a record increase in funds -- an extra half-a-billion dollars -- for something near and dear to all of us: Head Start. 

Education is the one investment that means more for our future because it means the most for our children. Real improvement in our schools is not simply a matter of spending more: It's a matter of asking more -- expecting more -- of our schools, our teachers, of our kids, of our parents, and ourselves. And that's why tonight I am announcing America's education goals, goals developed with enormous cooperation from the Nation's Governors. And if I might, I'd like to say I'm very pleased that Governor Gardner [Washington] and Governor Clinton [Arkansas], Governor Branstad [Iowa], Governor Campbell [South Carolina], all of whom were very key in these discussions, these deliberations, are with us here tonight. 

By the year 2000, every child must start school ready to learn. 

The United States must increase the high school graduation rate to no less than 90 percent. 

And we are going to make sure our schools' diplomas mean something. In critical subjects -- at the 4th, 8th, and 12th grades -- we must assess our students' performance. 

By the year 2000, U.S. students must be first in the world in math and science achievement. 

Every American adult must be a skilled, literate worker and citizen. 

Every school must offer the kind of disciplined environment that makes it possible for our kids to learn. And every school in America must be drug-free. 

Ambitious aims? Of course. Easy to do? Far from it. But the future's at stake. The Nation will not accept anything less than excellence in education. 

These investments will keep America competitive. And I know this about the American people: We welcome competition. We'll match our ingenuity, our energy, our experience and technology, our spirit and enterprise against anyone. But let the competition be free, but let it also be fair. America is ready."

References

Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2020). Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-before-joint-session-the-congress-the-state-the-union-2 [Accessed 2 Jan. 2020].

Education Week. (2020). Key Players of the 1989 Education Summit. [online] Available at: https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/key-players-1989-education-summit.html [Accessed 2 Jan. 2020].

Klein, A. (2020). Historic Summit Fueled Push for K-12 Standards. [online] Education Week. Available at: https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/09/24/05summit.h34.html [Accessed 2 Jan. 2020].

Vinovskis, M. (1999). The Road to Charlottesville - The 1989 Education Summit. [online] Govinfo.library.unt.edu. Available at: https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/negp/reports/negp30.pdf [Accessed 2 Jan. 2020].