[originaltext]STARNES: Well, Secretary, thank you very much for spending some t

STARNES: Well, Secretary, thank you very much for spending some time with us this afternoon.
SECRETARY: Oh, you’re quite welcome. Thank you for all the interest.
STARNES: Well, Secretary, we’d like talk about the state of education in America. So I guess we—let’s start off just by—just giving us your general impression of the state of education in America.
SECRETARY: I think our educational system is underperforming and leaving large numbers of children behind, especially minority children, inner-city children, and some rural children. Some of it tracks along the lines of our family structures, especially those families that have some vulnerabilities or weaknesses so that education for that child is, I think, concurrently weakened as well. And we need to find a way. And I think we have found a way to make sure that none of these children are left behind either. And the President’s vision for that is called "No Child Left Behind." And that bill passed the Congress and was signed last year. We’re one year into it now and I think that it is going to be a savior for a lot of kids who are otherwise left behind.
STARNES: Secretary, we’ve seen a number of parents pulling their children out of public schools and home-schooling them or sending them to private schools.  Can you see any justification on why they’re doing that?
SECRETARY: Absolutely. No child should be tied to a school that’s failing them. It is one of the, I think, most grievous sins that we have in the United States as far as school is concerned, that is insisting that a child attends a school that’s failing them. A child should be free to—a parent should be free to select a school that best meets that child’s needs, whether it’s private or whether it’s public or whether it’s a eyber-sehool or whether it’s home schooling or whatever. There will be a complex matrix of educational delivery systems, which includes all these different delivery systems. And private schools have a wonderful track record. There’s a vast body of research from the University of Chicago and elsewhere that indicate that private schools offer a high-quality education to some low-income students in inner-city settings. So it’s a wonderful part of our educational system.
STARNES: But why do you think adversaries of the Administration are against letting students go to these types of schools?
SECRETARY: Well, I think most people in this Administration would be absolutely for parents having wide options and choices to make decisions for their child’s school site. The politics of it is what interferes With it. And we need the kind of political support in order to get that accomplished through the federal system that we operate in. I don’t think it’s that we don’t want to have that. We do want to have it.
STARNES: How would you respond to the complaint the President was too religious? And even the Democrats have said that he has too much religion or religiosity. What would you say to those critics?
SECRETARY: I would offer them my prayers.
STARNES: As the leader of the nation’s education system, how do you maintain—how do you not let it all get to you? It’s a huge responsibility you have.
SECRETARY: Well, I think faith is a good response to that. But I don’t think my job is to solve all education problems in the world. My job is to work towards the right solutions and make sure I conduct myself properly. It’s kind of like the battle’s never won, only fought well.
STARNES: Uh-huh. What do you see as the greatest challenges facing the education system coming up in the next years?
SECRETARY: I think it is getting the idea across that every child has value and that every child can learn and that every child deserves our very best and most intense effort in ensuring that they have the greatest opportunity for education. It is believing in each child. And one of the most depressing things is to find systems where that belief is not strong or they don’t believe in the children. Sometimes they have low expectations for certain children. And overcoming these low expectations for certain children is probably our greatest challenge in the future.
STARNES: Wow. Now today, you had an announcement with Tom Ridge about terrorism and protecting students, so would you care to comment on anything of that nature?
SECRETARY: Well, I think that safety is our first job. When I served as superintendent of schools in Houston, our core values—the first very core value was safety above all else. And now our responsibility with safety has expanded. At one time, we had to worry about situations like the Columbine experience, but now we’ve got to add to that the possibility of international terrorism and that just broadens our responsibility. And so we’re working with the Homeland Security people and with other people throughout the world to see what we can learn from them in order to make sure that we’re providing the very best leadership we can for school safety.
STARNES: One final question, Mr. Secretary, we’re hearing a lot in the Christian colleges and universities about Christian world view on education.  Do you have any comment on that, what you think about that?
SECRETARY: No, I really haven’t—I’ve not heard enough about that to formulate a view, so I probably need to take a pass on that one.
STARNES: Yes, sir. Well, Mr. Secretary, I certainly appreciate your time this afternoon.
SECRETARY: Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
STARNES: Thank you.