ASHINGTON - Senator John F. Kerry, in what he is billing as a major policy speech that expands his vision for education change, plans today to attack both Republican Governor George W. Bush and the Democratic Party for education ideas that are old-fashioned and narrow.
The speech has the feel of a campaign announcement and borrows from a significant education speech Kerry made last year when he was pondering a run for president, according to an early draft provided to the Globe.
But this morning's address during an education forum sponsored by the Democratic Leadership Caucus could be seen as part of Kerry's ongoing drive to carve his niche in domestic social policy, according to several congressional aides. Education specialists also said the speech seemed to be part of Kerry's attempt to break away from the party's traditional liberal education platform, including that of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, in favor of a more centrist approach.
Kerry said yesterday that the thrust of his criticism is aimed at presidential candidate Bush, who advocates taking federal funds from disadvantaged public schools that perform poorly over three years and giving it to parents to spend on tutors or private schools. It is similar to a voucher program, which most Democrats oppose out of fear the best students would be drained from the public schools.
Kerry, in his speech, also criticizes Bush for sounding like a centrist Democrat and even repeating Kerry's ideas such as holding schools accountable for high standards.
''Some people have even said that his positions on our public schools are echoes of a speech I gave at Northeastern last year,'' the text reads. ''Well, it needs to be said that George Bush may have brought our rhetoric to the Republican Party - but he sure hasn't taken our policies with him.''
At the same time, Kerry's draft speech does not refrain from taking Democrats to task.
''We have work to do in our own caucus. We have an agenda in real need of modernization, and we have an obligation, as the friends of public schools, to do the real work of reform,'' the early text reads. ''But there's a schism we need to address if we're ever going to take those steps forward.''
That schism, it continues, is the fault of Democrats who ''confuse reform with real spending.''
''We cannot be a party that speaks merely of school construction and reducing class size. These are good ideas - we need to push for their passage. But there is far more we must do together,'' Kerry says in the draft. ''Unless we are ready to consent to perpetuating a system that pits the interests of adults against the interests of kids, we must tell the hard truths, and we must be the party of comprehensive reform.''
Kerry has faced obstacles in pushing his educational legislative agenda, especially in a Republican Congress.
He introduced legislation with Senator Gordon Smith, a Republican from Oregon, earlier this year that would use $25 billion in federal funds to improve the overall structure of education. Advocates of the bill say it would finance after-school programs, teacher training, and broader early childhood development programs. It has 12 cosponsors, including Kennedy and both Republicans from Maine, Senators Susan M. Collins and Olympia Snowe - a bipartisan list that gives Kerry hope the bill could be voted on.
But it is unclear how the $5 billion-a-year program would be paid for. Kerry admits it would be ''very difficult'' to get the legislation financed. So far, there seems to be little impetus to bring the bill to the Senate floor.
Meanwhile, Kennedy yesterday criticized a Republican plan to cut federal education funding. Kennedy contended the plan would eliminate millions of federal dollars allocated to states each year for programs that aid low-income students and help school districts hire teachers.
''Every year, education starts first in rhetoric and ends up last in reality,'' said Kennedy, who urged his colleagues to reject the $15 billion in education cuts proposed by GOP leaders.
Material from States News Service was used in this report.
