And about a third of the freshman reporting to college campuses are unable to do the work. More than a million responded to the offer in 1999, saying they would do whatever it took to attend better private or religious schools if given a choice. In California, roughly 85,000 children are enrolled in the 234 charter schools around the state. Parents from around the Bay Area are clamoring for still more. Paige said in a recent visit to Santa Clara.
Public education is largely the responsibility of state governments and thousands of school boards.
Congress and educators will have to be persuaded to break the mold, freeing teachers and administrators to be more creative and set higher standards. Paige, who is as self-effacing as he is firm, can play a major role in the course of public education in the coming years. The former football coach and Houston schools superintendent is widely credited with transforming the nation's seventh-largest school district into one the nation's finest urban school systems. His reputation as a school reform advocate will serve him well under a president who has vowed sweeping changes and more accountability in education. Paige's voice must be a powerful one as the traditional forms of education come under fire and the school-choice movement explodes.