Decrying violence in America's schoolhouses, philanthropist Walter Annenberg on Friday pledged the largest single gift ever made to public education - $500 million over five years for schools around the country.
Announcing his "challenge grant" at the White House with President Clinton at his side, Annenberg said continued violence in public schools would "not only erode the education system but will destroy our way of life in the United States. That's a pretty strong statement, but I believe that."Clinton called the grant "a remarkable and truly wonderful thing. It could not have come at a better time," he said.
The grants will be distributed on a matching basis, with additional money to be raised from individuals, corporations and foundations.
Education Secretary Richard Riley said the money "will enable us to pick up the pace dramatically in our efforts to create national standards of excellence, to raise the bar academically, and once and for all, end this continuing conspiracy of low expectations."
Annenberg issued a summons along with his gift, saying his award alone will not solve all of public education's problems.
"This must be a challenge to the nation," he said. "It will take individual giving, corporate giving and foundation giving to do the job."
Clinton said the money will help promote a "standard of excellence" for education that can be adapted school by school around for country.
"Nearly every problem has been solved by somebody, somewhere," Clinton said, saying there needs to be more coordination to help replicate programs that already have been found to work.
Annenberg's latest pledge comes on top of a $365 million gift that he gave to three universities and a college prep school in June.
"We must ask ourselves whether improving education will halt the violence," said Annenberg, a former U.S. ambassador to Britain. "If anyone can think of a better way, we may have to try that, but the way I see this tragedy, education is the most wholesome and effective approach."
Annenberg's announcement came in the same week that a survey by Metropolitan Life found that more than one in 10 teachers and nearly one in four students have been victims of violence in or near their public schools.
Some $50 million of Annen-berg's gift will go to the National Institute for School Reform at Brown University in Rhode Island, being renamed as the Annenberg National Institute for School Reform.