LAURA BUSH HOLDS MEDIA AVAILABILITY, ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES ACADEMY, LAS VEGAS, NEVADA.

Original Source: Political Transcript Wire

LAURA BUSH HOLDS MEDIA AVAILABILITY, ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES ACADEMY, LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, AS RELEASED BY THE WHITE HOUSE

FEBRUARY 19, 2004

SPEAKER: LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES

[*] BUSH: Hello, everybody. I'm so happy to be here at this really terrific school and I'm so glad that Dema Guinn joined me -- thank you for joining me Mrs. Guinn. I also want to congratulate the principal, Ms. Oler, for this fabulous school. And I thank Lauren and all the teachers who were in the roundtable with me, for participating in the roundtable. I'm here at this school specifically, Advanced Technologies Academy, because this school is such a great example of what we want schools to be like in the 21st century. The AP courses that you heard us discuss in the roundtable, that are offered to so many students, are a great way to have a very rigorous curriculum and to be really prepared to go to college, if you choose to go to college after high school.

But also this school offers a computer for every, single student. I don't know if you heard Mrs. Oler's story about the one student who was a pre-law student, but when he interned in a law office here, he was the one who could help them with the computer, even though he didn't think he was that great with the computer compared to other students at the school. But what he could do was enough to get him a job while he was going to college, with this law firm.

So this is a part of why I am here, is to talk about the president's Jobs for the 21st Century Initiative that he announced at the State of the Union address. And that would be money for schools like this, that will prepare students for jobs that we'll have in the 21st century: technology jobs, science and math jobs, all of the ways that students can be prepared either to go on to college for more advanced degrees; or, like some of the students do here, to be so well-versed in technology that you can go straight to work from here without another degree.

So I'd be glad to take your questions.

QUESTION: I'm just wondering, so the No Child Left Behind Act, I just would like to hear you comment on how you think it's working in the rest of the country.

BUSH: Well, I think it's working well. I know that there are some states that are not that happy with it. But I will say -- critics say that there's not enough money appropriated with it, but there is more money in the No Child Left Behind Act than there's been in any previous…