Weekly Address: Ensuring Every Child Gets a Great Education
Source: White House
In this week’s address, the President reiterated his commitment to expanding access to education, and to spreading the joy of reading to more children and young adults.
Earlier this week, the President announced two new efforts that, building on the progress already made by his ConnectED initiative, will do just that: a challenge to mayors, libraries, and school leaders to help every student get a library card; and commitments from libraries and major publishers to provide more than $250 million in free e-Books for low-income students. In his address, the President also previewed his upcoming commencement speech at Lake Area Tech, in Watertown, South Dakota, where he will discuss his plan to make two years of community college as free and universal for every American as high school is today.
The President is working to ensure every child has the access to the education and resources they need to be successful.
Read more: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address
Transcript
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/05/02/weekly-address-ensuring-every-child-gets-great-education
I’m speaking with you from the DC Public Library in Anacostia, where I just met with a group of promising middle school students.
We spent some time talking about their lives, and how we all care about their success – and how that starts with a good education.
So one thing I announced here in Anacostia is a new project by libraries and major publishers to provide more than $250 million in free e-Books for low-income students.
We also issued a challenge to mayors, libraries, and school leaders to help every student get a library card, so they can expand their horizons in a place like this.
It’s all part of our ConnectED initiative to connect 99% of America’s students to high-speed Internet. Because no matter who you are, where you live, or how much money you’ve got, you should be able to access the world’s knowledge and information just like anyone else.
In a global economy, we’ve got to help ensure that everyone, of every age, in every zip code – urban and rural – has the chance to learn the skills that lead directly to a good job.
That’s also why I’ve put forward a plan to make two years of community college as free and universal for every American as high school is today. It’s something I’ll talk about in my commencement address next week at Lake Area Tech, in the small town of Watertown, South Dakota. It’s a community college with a graduation rate that is nearly twice the national average. They’re proving that a great education can be within everyone’s reach.
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And thanks for the weekly posting! 
I think the push for 2 years of free Community College is great... It could give a jump-start opportunity for traditional liberal arts education or could lead to vocational training in places where many in urban areas are "locked out" of certain trades due to archaic familial membership rules.
Also, the South Dakota Commencement speech will mark the President's final state left "unvisited as President", whereby he will now have traveled to and spoke in all 50 states during his tenure in office! 
