Alexander Announces Education Advisory Committee; Iowa Educators and Administrators Form Broad-based Coalition.

DES MOINES, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 5, 1999--

Presidential candidate Lamar Alexander announced the formation of an Iowa advisory committee of education leaders to help organize a coalition of parents, teachers, and administrators for the Alexander campaign. The advisory group will also meet with Alexander to help formulate education policy initiatives and brief the campaign on issues facing education in Iowa. The group will hold its first meeting on June 16 in Des Moines.

"I'm very proud of the education leaders we've assembled on our campaign. I can't think of an issue that's more important than education - 90% of the country's problems could be solved with stronger families and better schools," said Alexander. "This group can play a key role in shaping the debate on education in the presidential race."

Newly-elected House Speaker Brent Siegrist, a former teacher, and Indian Hills Community College President Dr. Lyle Hellyer will head the committee. "No candidate can claim the experience in education that Lamar Alexander would bring to the White House," said Hellyer. "Beyond the slogans and poll-tested sound bites used by the other candidates, Lamar has real-world experience as a leader of the governors on education, as the president of a land-grant university, and as secretary of education. He can make a difference where few other candidates can."

Governor Terry Branstad, the campaign's national chairman, was also on hand for the announcement. "The first thing I noticed about Lamar Alexander when we served together as governors in the early eighties was his innovation and leadership in the area of education," said Branstad. "More than any other issue, it's the reason I decided to throw my support behind Lamar and get involved in the campaign," he said.

During the campaign, Alexander has announced bold plans to fix public education:

-- Local control of schools. Local control doesn't just mean a local school board. It can mean an independent, public charter school or a parent with a scholarship to take their child to the school of their choice.

-- Hope Scholarship for Children. Congress should create a $1,500 Hope Scholarship for Children in middle- and low-income families to send their child to the school - public, private or religious - that they think is best.

-- High Standards and Accountability. Alexander supports high, solid standards, developed by states, then amplified and improved locally by individual schools. He support tests keyed to those high standards, and serious accountability -- tests that measure what teachers are teaching and what students are learning -- not to punish students who aren't achieving but to identify those students who need help.

-- Pay good teachers more for teaching well and end tenure for bad teachers. This will draw our best young people into the teaching profession and challenge and offer incentives to our best teachers to teach even better.

"Our goal should be to give every child in America the choice of a good, safe, neighborhood school," said Alexander. With that broad outline, the committee will work with the campaign to develop specific issues for Iowa voters, and help spread that message to caucus voters.

NOTE: Information regarding the Iowa Education Advisory Committee may

be obtained from David Kochel.