Last year I proposed—­and you passed—­220,000 new Pell Grant scholarships for deserving students.  Student loans, already less expensive and easier to repay—­now you get to deduct the interest.  Families all over America now can put their savings into new, tax-free education IRAs.

And this year, for the first two years of college, families will get a $1500 tax credit—­a Hope Scholarship that will cover the cost of most community college tuition.  And for junior and senior year, graduate school, and job training, there is a lifetime learning credit.  You did that, and you should be very proud of it.

And because of these actions, I have something to say to every family listening to us tonight:  your children can go on to college.  If you know a child from a poor family, tell her not to give up, she can go on to college.  If you know a young couple struggling with bills, worried they won’t be able to send their children to college, tell them not to give up, their children can go on to college.  If you know somebody who’s caught in a dead-end job and afraid he can’t afford the classes necessary to get better jobs for the rest of his life, tell him not to give up, he can go on to college.

Because of the things that have been done, we can make college as universal in the 21st century as high school is today.  And, my friends, that will change the face and future of America.

We have opened wide the doors of the world’s best system of higher education.  Now we must make our public elementary and secondary schools the world’s best as well—­by raising standards, raising expectations and raising accountability.

Thanks to the actions of this Congress last year, we will soon have, for the very first time, a voluntary national test based on national standards in fourth grade reading and eighth grade math.

Parents have a right to know whether their children are mastering the basics.  And every parent already knows the key; good teachers and small classes.

Tonight, I propose the first ever national effort to reduce class size in the early grades.  My balanced budget will help to hire a hundred thousand new teachers who have passed the state competency tests.  Now with these teachers—­listen—­with these teachers, we will actually be able to reduce class size in the first, second and third grades to an average of 18 students a class all across America.

Now, if I’ve got the math right, more teachers teaching smaller classes requires more classrooms.  So I also propose a school construction tax cut to help communities modernize or build 5,000 schools.

We must also demand greater accountability.  When we promote a child from grade to grade who hasn’t mastered the work, we don’t do that child any favors.  It is time to end social promotion in America’s schools.

Last year, in Chicago, they made that decision—­not to hold our children back, but to lift them up.  Chicago stopped social promotion and started mandatory summer school to help students who are behind to catch up.