Obama Announces Arne Duncan as Education Secretary

I can't think of a better way to sum up Arne's approach to education reform. With his leadership, I'm confident that together, we'll bring our education system and our economy into the 21st century, and give all of our kids a chance to succeed. I'm going to ask Joe to say something briefly, and then we'll have Arne come up.

BIDEN: Thank you, Mr. President-elect; congratulations, Arne.

My mom has an expression, and you all are tired of hearing me say this all through the last couple years, that children tend to become that which you expect of them. These kids, Mr. President, are the kite strings that lift our national ambitions aloft. These kids are, as you said, our kids. And Arne Duncan, as the secretary of education, is going to understand a great deal of our children, and I expect Arne, maybe of our parents as well.

And that's a really very, very good thing. Because if our children are going to succeed, if our economy is going to thrive, we have to have an education system that's second to none in the world. That's the only way our children and our nation are going to be able to compete in today's global economy. Any nation that is -- to paraphrase what the vice -- what the president-elect just said, any nation that out competes us -- out educates us -- will out compete us. It's that basic. And that means a stronger commitments to our high schools, our elementary schools, but also our community colleges. And it means college degrees must be within the reach of all -- all of our children, for nothing less is good enough.

BIDEN: But education is not just about competing, as any teacher within the walls of this school fully understands. It's about changing lives. As was referenced by the president-elect, his sister, and my wife, who are educators, they understand that -- that they need, also -- the very good teachers are inspirations to their children. Education systems are inspiration to children.

From what I've learned from my wife, when you educate a child, you do a lot more than teach them math, grammar, historical facts. You shine a light. You open doors. You make it possible for dreams to come true. You give a child hope and then nothing is ever the same, again, for that child.

And that's what Arne Duncan has done. From the time he got out of school to this very moment, he's shined a light for an awful lot of these kids. He's raised standards. He's helped kids in school. He's expected more. He's changed lives. And I can't think of anything more important for America's next secretary of education to do than what Arne has been doing all along.

I think this is a truly great pick, and I look forward to working with Arne and congratulations.

(APPLAUSE)

DUNCAN: Thank you so much, Vice President-elect and President- elect Obama. I'm deeply, deeply honored to be asked to serve in your administration. Like so many Americans, I was inspired by your campaign. I'm even more inspired by the team of people you are building to help bring much needed change to our country.

While many issues will demand your attention, I am convinced that no issue -- no issue is more pressing than education. Whether it's fighting poverty, strengthening our economy, or promoting opportunity, education is the common thread. It is the civil rights issue of our generation, and it is the one sure path to more equal, fair and just society.

Education has been my life's work. Starting on the South Side of Chicago where I grew up along with my sister and brother as a part of my mother's inner city after-school tutoring program. Her remarkable courage and dedication has been a constant source of inspiration to me.

It continued throughout high school, college, and much of my professional life, including Australia where I worked with under- privileged young people when I wasn't playing basketball. I am grateful that you have recognized all the hard work our team here in Chicago has done to turn around struggling schools, and create new learning options and opportunities across this city.

I absolutely did not do this alone. And I am confident that the progress will continue. We are on a winning streak here, and have proven it twice the rate of the state on elementary test scores and at twice the rate of the state on the ACT test. Those trends must continue.

I'm also eager to apply some of the lessons we've learned here in Chicago to help school districts all across our country.

DUNCAN: We have worked with a the tremendous sense of urgency because we can't wait. Our children have just one chance to get a quality education, and they need and deserve the absolute best.

While there are no simple answers, I know from experience that when you focus on basics like reading and math, and when you embrace innovative new approaches and when you create a professional climate to attract great teachers, you can create great schools.

We are producing more nationally board certified teachers than any other big city school system in the country. And in this work, talent matters tremendously. We must continue to attract and support the best and brightest teachers who are committed to making a difference in the lives of our children.

I just want to take a moment to thank a few people who made it possible for me to be here today, starting with Mayor Daley. He had the confidence in me seven years ago when he asked me to take my current job, and he has always supported me when we made tough decisions, like the one to close and reopen this school right here.

I want to thank our mutual friend John Rogers, who's been a mentor and friend to me since I was 10-years-old. He gave my sister and I the opportunity to start a great school in the Southside of Chicago, and that has become a model for success in urban education.

I want to thank my children, Claire (ph) and Ryan (ph), and my wife Karen for all the tremendous support she's provided me during this job. And I want to thank her in advance for what I expect to be an even more demanding job in the years ahead.

And, finally, I want to thank all the people of Chicago who helped make us a national model for reform, starting with my partner, Bob Resin Watkins (ph) and our board president, Rufus Williams.

I know how important teamwork is, and it takes a lot of teamwork just to (inaudible) an education. I am deeply, deeply grateful to be a part of the Obama team. And together we have a chance to do something extraordinary for our nation's children.

Thank you.

OBAMA: Excellent.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: OK.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: I just wanted to dispel one rumor before I take questions.

OBAMA: I did not select Arne because he's one of the best basketball players I know.

(LAUGHTER)

Although I will say that I think we are putting together the best basketball-playing Cabinet in American history.

(LAUGHTER)

And I think that is -- that is worth noting.

I'm going to take a few questions.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) mentioned the ties between education and the economy, and that's where I'd like to take us.

OBAMA: Sure.

QUESTION: The Federal Reserve is expected to lower the fed funds rate today to 50 basis points, one of the lowest rates in history.

OBAMA: Right.

QUESTION: I'm just wondering, how confident are you in Ben Bernanke's decision? And with that decision, are we running out of options to jump start the economy?

OBAMA: Well, I don't think it's good policy for the president or a president-elect to second-guess the Fed, which is an independent body. But let me just make an observation that we are running out of the traditional ammunition that's used in a recession, which is to lower interest rates. They're getting to be about as low as they can go. And although the Fed is still going to have more tools available to it, it is critical that the other branches of government step up. And that's why the economic recovery plan is so absolutely critical.

And my economic team, which I'm going to be meeting with today, is helping to shape what is going to be a bold agenda to create 2.5 million new jobs, to start helping states and local governments with shovel-ready projects -- rebuilding our roads, our bridges, making sure that schools like this one are energy efficient, putting people back to work, getting businesses to start seeing some increase in demand, so that we can get, instead of a downward spiral, start getting on an upward spiral.

OBAMA: And I'm confident that we can accomplish that if we've got Democrats and Republicans, federal, state, and local governments all working together.

But, look, we are going through the toughest time, economically, since the Great Depression. And it's going to be -- it's going to be tough.

And we're going to have work through a lot of these difficulties, these structural difficulties that built up over many decades, some of it having to do with the financial industry and the huge amounts of leverage, the huge amounts of debt that were taken on, the speculation and the risk that was occurring, the lack of financial regulation; some of it having to do with our housing market, stabilizing that.

It's going to be, I think, critical for us to look at some of the long-term issues that I talked about during the campaign, health care and energy.

And, finally, education is going to play a critical role in this. You know, what the Fed does or what our administration does, in terms of short-term, emergency action, is obviously going to be important to people's everyday lives.

But if we pursue the kind of strategy that Arne Duncan's pursued and I want to see our administration pursue, which is making no excuses and expecting high achievement from every child.

If we can get young people focused on education; if we can change our culture so that we are once again valuing intellectual achievement; and if we are willing to all pull together around making our schools better, that's going to be the single biggest determinant, in terms of how our economy does, long-term, OK? John McCormick (ph)?

QUESTION: (inaudible). First of all, given the situation here (inaudible) do you favor (inaudible) special election to fill your -- vacancy, and secondly, you told us at your first press conference after the election that you were going to take a very hands-off approach to filling that spot. Over the weekend, The Tribune reported that -- Rahm Emmanuel, your incoming chief of staff, had presented a list of potential names...

OBAMA: John, let me -- let me -- let me just cut you out, because I don't want you to waste your question. As I indicated yesterday, we've done a full review of this. The -- the facts are going to be released next week. It would be inappropriate for me to comment, because the -- the -- for example, the -- the story that you just talked about in your own paper, I haven't confirmed that it was accurate, and I don't want to get into the details at this point. So do you have another question?

QUESTION: There's no conflict between what (inaudible) your hands-off approach and the possibility that (inaudible)...

OBAMA: John -- John, I said -- The U.S. attorney's office specifically asked us not to release this until next week.

QUESTION: What about on a special election?

(inaudible) given the (inaudible) chaos here in Illinois?

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: You know, I've said that I don't think the governor can serve effectively in his office. I'm going to let the state legislature make a determination in terms of how they want to proceed.

QUESTION: Do you or Duncan have a better jump shot?

OBAMA: Duncan much better. That one's an easy one.

All right. Mary-Anne (ph) (inaudible)?

QUESTION: (inaudible) all of their achievements, there have still been many who believe they could do much better. Families wrestle with where to go to school...

OBAMA: Right.

QUESTION: ... you yourself have sent your daughters to private schools. What kind of commitment can you make for resources now, as president for the public school system. Do you agree with Arne Duncan's proposal of cash incentives -- giving kids who receive A's and B's, perhaps, $100? And what did the mayor say when you told him that you were taking Arne Duncan away from Chicago?

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: The...

QUESTION: (inaudible) I had to get them all in.

OBAMA: I understand.

Well, first of all, I think Arne, Joe, myself, all agree that the Chicago public schools aren't as good as they need to be, and that the vast majority of schools that are under performing can do better. That's our job: To raise expectations for parents, for students, for principles, for school administrators. And that's what Arne has consistently done.

What I've been so impressed with is the dedication that he has -- has shown in continuous steady improvement. And that's what we're looking for.

Look, we're not going to transform every school overnight. And there's some school systems -- not just big city school systems -- there are rural schools and suburban schools that just aren't up to snuff. But what -- what we can expect is that each and every day we are thinking of new, innovative ways to make the schools better. That's what Arne's done. That's going to be his job. That's going to be his task.

And one of the things that Arne and I share, I think, is a deep pragmatism in terms of how we go about this.

If -- if pay-for-performance works and we can work with teachers so they don't feel like it's being imposed on them but instead they've got an option for different compensation mechanisms in order for us to encourage high performance, then that's something we should explore. If charter schools work, let's try that. You know, let's not be clouded by ideology when it comes to figuring out what helps our kids.

And I think Mayor Daley could not be prouder of Arne Duncan and the fact that the same dedication, hard work that he has shown here in Chicago he's going to be able to show to the entire country.

OK. Carol Lee (ph)? Where Carol (ph)? Carol from (inaudible).

There you go.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) you had said before that you were going to appoint a number of Republicans to you Cabinet, and so far we haven't seen that many. Do you -- what can we expect in that area?

OBAMA: I'm not giving you a preview. We've got some more appointments to make. And I think that when you look at our entire White House staff and Cabinet and various appointments, I think people will feel that we followed through on our commitment to make sure that this is not only a administration that is diverse ethnically but it's also diverse politically and it's diverse in terms of people's life experience.

Arne's somebody who has really been working on the ground, for example. You know, he's not a creature of Washington. That's not where he cut his teeth. He cut his teeth working with kids individually, working in schools like this.

You know, we have other people, obviously, who have Washington experience, and I think that blend is going to make us extraordinarily effective on not just our education agenda but our broader agenda to help American families live out the American dream.

OK.

Thank you guys.

(APPLAUSE)

END