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Statement on the School-to-Work Opportunities Legislation

April 21, 1994

I am gratified by today's final passage of the "School-to-Work Opportunities Act." I am particularly pleased that this vital economic opportunity legislation passed with such broad bipartisan support.

This legislation will help millions of our young people enter the middle class and secure the American dream for themselves and their families. It will give them the opportunity to receive advanced, academically rigorous technical training. And it will help them obtain the knowledge and skills they need to get jobs that pay well and offer real chances for career advancement.

School-to-work is central to our efforts to guarantee lifetime learning for every citizen. In a rapidly changing world economy, what you earn increasingly depends on what you learn. We are putting in place an ambitious agenda to prepare our people. Last year Congress enacted my proposal to make college loans more affordable for middle class students. Just 3 weeks ago, I signed into law the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, which set national educational standards. And by the end of this year, I look forward to signing legislation that will reform and expand Head Start, reconfigure Federal aid to elementary and secondary education, and transform our outmoded unemployment system into a world-class reemployment system.

This is a time of real ferment and real achievement for America's workers and students. Working together, we can continue to break gridlock and build new opportunities for American families to prosper in a rapidly changing economy.

William J. Clinton, Statement on the School-to-Work Opportunities Legislation Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/219122

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