President's Viewpoint
What's At Stake?

A lot is up for grabs in Election 2000. We stand to make a crucial difference.

Alot is at stake in the upcoming elections: The White House. The Congress. The Supreme Court. But what's really at stake is the future of America's children. Personally, I wish every citizen could visit Paul Revere Elementary School before stepping into the voting booth on November 7th.

Located in Anaheim, California, Paul Revere Elementary School sits literally in the shadow of Disneyland. Children can look up from the school's playground and see the theme park's famous Matterhorn.

But inside the school, some 1,200 children have been crammed into a facility built to accommodate 700. Some first and second grade classes overlap in the same room. Recess has been eliminated in the early grades; gym class has been "combined" with a 20-minute lunch period. Over 60 percent of the students speak limited English or none at all. More than 80 percent live in poverty.

Paul Revere Elementary stands as a shameful metaphor for all the promises that have yet to be fulfilled for the children of this country--and for the issues that demand attention in this coming election.

Currently, our nation is experiencing the longest period of peace and prosperity in its history. In an era of overnight billionaires and budget surpluses, it is obscene that every child in America should not be able to receive a decent, public school education right in his or her neighborhood. Indeed, it is obscene that we would not work to bridge the gap between rich and poor, or reform schools in the poor districts so that they are on a par with the wealthiest.

Martin Luther King once said, "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

Yet at a time when our nation is enjoying unprecedented levels of "comfort and convenience," the ultimate measure of presidentialcandidates Al Gore and George W. Bush is exactly how they planto direct this prosperity.

Al Gore intends to invest in public education-to fund such reforms as smaller class sizes and universal preschool--while providing tax relief to working and middle--class families. Governor Bush wouldsubsidize school vouchers and create massive tax cuts that dispro-portionately benefit the nation's wealthiest.

Gore plans to increase education funding by $115 billion, Bush by $13.4 billion. Gore says that standards and accountability must be coupled with "training and support" for students and teachers alike. Bush says that if schools don't show results, he'll "impose consequences for failure." Gore wants to invest in school infrastructure. Bush has said, "I don't believe the federal government should be building classrooms across the country."

Therefore, this November, we must neither cast our votes aside, nor cast them lightly. Right now, almost one out of every 100 Americans is a member of the NEA. Individually, we are rarely counted among the powerful. But in our numbers we are a force to be reckoned with--provided that we vote.

At the voting booth, we must insist that the next President champion America's children, public schools, and the people who work in them. We must insist that resources go where they're needed most--not funneled cynically to the wealthiest. We must insist, in short, that no child be relegated to a school--or a life--that exists only in the shadows of America's best dreams.

Comments? You can E-mail Bob Chase at BobChase@nea.org. If you would like a response, please be sure to include your name and NEA local affiliate.