And to make sure all teachers know the subjects they teach, tonight I propose a new teacher quality initiative—­to recruit more talented people into the classroom, reward good teachers for staying there, and give all teachers the training they need.

We know charter schools provide real public school choice.  When I became President, there was just one independent public charter school in all America.  Today there are 1,700.  I ask you to help us meet our goal of 3,000 by next year.

We know we must connect all our classrooms to the Internet.  We’re getting there.  In 1994, only three percent of our classrooms were connected.  Today, with the help of the Vice President’s E-rate program, more than half of them are; and 90 percent of our schools have at least one connection to the Internet.

But we can’t finish the job when a third of all schools are in serious disrepair, many with walls and wires too old for the Internet.  Tonight, I propose to help 5,000 schools a year make immediate, urgent repairs.  And again, to help build or modernize 6,000 schools, to get students out of trailers and into high-tech classrooms.

We should double our bipartisan Gear up program to mentor 1.4 million disadvantaged young people for college.  And let’s offer these students a chance to take the same college test-prep courses wealthier students use to boost their test scores.

To make the American Dream achievable for all, we must make college affordable for all.  For seven years, on a bipartisan basis, we have taken action toward that goal:  larger Pell grants, more-affordable student loans, education IRAs, and our hope scholarships, which have already benefited 5 million young people. 67 percent of high school graduates now go on to college, up almost 10 percent since 1993.  Yet millions of families still strain to pay college tuition.  They need help.

I propose a landmark $30-billion college opportunity tax cut—­a middle-class tax deduction for up to $10,000 in college tuition costs.  We’ve already made two years of college affordable for all.  Now let’s make four years of college affordable for all.

If we take all these steps, we will move a long way toward making sure every child starts school ready to learn and graduates ready to succeed.

Rewarding Work and Strengthening Families

We need a 21st Century revolution to reward work and strengthen families—­ by giving every parent the tools to succeed at work and at the most important work of all—­raising their children.  That means making sure that every family has health care and the support to care for aging parents, the tools to bring their children up right, and that no child grows up in poverty.

From my first days as President, we have worked to give families better access to better health care.  In 1997, we passed the Children’s Health Insurance Program—­chip—­so that workers who don’t have health care coverage through their employers at least can get it for their children.  So far, we’ve enrolled 2 million children, and we’re well on our way to our goal of 5 million.