Remarks Announcing Intention To Nominate Edward Aguirre as Commissioner of Education

I am very pleased to announce that I am nominating as the Commissioner of Education, Dr. Aguirre. He will succeed Dr. Bell. And Dr. Aguirre comes from the Arizona area--Arizona State. He taught school in the public school system of Phoenix, Arizona, went on to San Diego State and was on the faculty there for a number of years, and then went with the Department of Labor, and then, for the last several years, has been the Regional Director for the Office of Education in San Francisco.

Dr. Aguirre has not only the experience and the background but he firmly believes, as I do, that our approach to elementary and secondary education, where we would have a block grant program of $3,300 million, with money going directly to the local school systems, is the way to relieve bureaucratic red tape and get the teacher and the principal and the administrator working without the heavy hand of Washington bureaucracy dictating the policies at the local school level.

Dr. Aguirre also firmly believes that our approaches to the problems of higher education are in the best interest of the students and that with the help of Congress in the next session, we hope to achieve real success in sending the money from the Federal Government, but letting the local decisions be made at the local level.

So, I am very, very pleased, Doctor, that you are going to be our new Commissioner of Education and will be working with Secretary of HEW, David Mathews. We think we have a good team.

Congratulations.