So far, Oregon is not one of them, but the 1999 legislature is already working on charter school legislation. I thought this might be a good opportunity to clarify my own position. The whole concept of charter schools has much to recommend it. These schools can offer a wider range of choices to parents and students, they can allow for greater creativity and flexibility in the ways we deliver education to our children. But at the same time, the whole idea must be considered with care.
Charter schools have the potential to enrich and enhance our system of public education.
They must never be conceived or implemented in a way that undermines or weakens that system. One of my most firmly held beliefs is my belief not just in education, but in public education, because in my view it represents the best chance we have of ensuring equal opportunity for all our children. That's a tradition that reaches back nearly four centuries, when the Massachusetts Bay Colony passed the first public education law on this continent, requiring that every child must be taught how to read. Since then, although we have come from different backgrounds, from different countries, from different cultures, from different sides of the track, by and large over the years we have shared a common experience of public schools. Public education is a tradition that has served America well.