US Presidency
2002

If we've learned anything over the last generations, money alone doesn't make a good school. It certainly helps. But as John mentioned, we've spent billions of dollars with lousy results. So now it's time to spend billions of dollars and get good results. As John mentioned, too many of our kids can't read. You know, a huge percentage of children in poverty can't read at grade level. That's not right in America. We're going to win the war overseas, and we need to win the war against illiteracy here at home, as well. And so this bill so this bill focuses on reading. It sets a grand goal for the country. Our children will be reading by the third grade. That's not an impossible goal. It's a goal we must meet if we want every child to succeed. And so, therefore, we tripled the amount of federal funding for scientifically-based early reading programs. We've got money in there to make sure teachers know how to teach what works. We've got money in there to help promote proven methods of instruction.