One-on-One with Laura Bush
She's most often described as quiet and bookish, a former teacher turned librarian turned at-home mom, who loves nothing better than to curl up in a corner with a good read. So after months on the grueling presidential campaign trail, one might expect Laura Bush to be a bit weary of it all.

Instead, she strides into a hotel room with aides and Secret Service trailing, looking vibrant and eager to talk. Surprisingly, for a woman who has been typecast as the adoring spouse with assorted pet causes, Mrs. Bush reveals herself to be a savvy, tough-as-nails campaigner. She's at home discussing education policy issues while skillfully deflecting personal questions she views as invasive.

In her first online interview, Laura Bush talks with FamilyEducation.com's Katy Abel about schools, raising readers, and the challenges of parenting today. Click on an issue to find out what Mrs. Bush has to say.

Parents Who Don't Vote
FamilyEducation: There are 63 million moms and dads in this country. If we listen to the pollsters, a lot of them are going to say to themselves, "I'm just too busy with the homework and the soccer practice. Maybe I'll make it to the polls, but it'll be tough." What would you say to those parents about what's at stake in this election?

Laura Bush: One thing is that they should be great role models for their children. If they vote, then their children will know how important voting is. Our whole democracy is dependent on people being participants. It's a great example for your kids to be interested in politics. When you go to the polls, take your children with you. If you do that, you'll raise voters.

FamilyEducation: What about parents who say, "Al Gore, George Bush -- I hear a lot of what they say, but none of it has anything to do with my life"?

Laura Bush: But education has to do with every parent's life and every child's life, and one thing George has is real experience running a huge education system as Governor of Texas. He believes local people ought to make the decisions for their schools, local principals, local teachers, and parents. They're the ones who have the most at stake. If the state tells local people what to do, or the federal government tells them, then it provides a great excuse for failure: "We would have done better if you hadn't told us to do it this way."

So I think it puts the responsibility where it should be. Also, (Governor Bush) had a reading initiative for our state. It was very specific, and included money from the legislature for reading academies, which were schools within schools with diagnostics tests for teachers to use to see if there were reading problems early, to correct them early. Reading is the one fundamental skill a child learns in school. If you can read then you can do science, history, and every other subject. And if you can't read, then you're at a huge disadvantage. Teacher Shortages And Pay
FamilyEducation: We know that by 2010, half of all teachers in this country will retire. Al Gore wants to spend $16 billion on teacher recruitment. Your husband wants to spend $5.3 billion, much of it on teacher training. If a parent looks at those numbers, he might say, "Mr. Gore is planning to spend more than Mr. Bush. Maybe the commitment's bigger."

Laura Bush: George is very committed to recruiting great teachers. I think that amount of money still sounds like a lot of money that he's willing to commit to. But I also know that it's a local issue. States and school districts really have to go out of their way to recruit. It's a national issue in the sense that every one of us needs to say how important teachers are. Right now in this economy teachers don't make as much as they do in other jobs, which is why a lot of people are either leaving or not choosing the profession.

FamilyEducation: What should teachers earn, given their importance?

Laura Bush: I think a great teacher is priceless. I think teachers have a more profound impact on our society and culture than any other profession.

FamilyEducation: But given the starting salaries for teachers -- mid 20's to low 30's in a lot of areas -- would you recommend it as a profession to your own daughters?

Laura Bush: I would recommend it for sure. It's a really great profession. Do they make enough money? No, of course not. Bond elections come before school districts and a lot of times they're defeated. We need to make sure everybody realizes how important it is to recruit and keep really great teachers in our schools.

FamilyEducation: Given your own background as a teacher, what do we need to do first to make schools better?

Laura Bush: We certainly need to recruit new teachers. Teachers should be paid more. We need to look at school buildings and make sure they're safe, that they are an environment that we would want our children to spend their time in. How do our schools look? Parents can help landscape schools and make sure they look really good for children. School Vouchers and Charter Schools
FamilyEducation: Governor Bush actively supports vouchers, but some parents are worried vouchers will take away money we need for public schools.

Laura Bush: I wouldn't say that Governor Bush actively supports vouchers. He thinks it is a state issue, and if states choose to pass voucher laws, that is up to the state. He wanted to get a voucher program in our state, and tried twice to pass an experimental program tied only to schools that were failing in poor neighborhoods where parents didn't have a choice to send their children to a private school. Neither of those (voucher) bills passed.

FamilyEducationRegarding your husband's support for charter schools: There was a study released last week by the Texas Freedom Network showing that only 39 percent of charter-school students are passing statewide standardized tests compared to 80 percent of public-school students.

Laura Bush: There are reasons for that. I think people thought that charter schools would be for wealthy people who would try to avoid problems in public schools. But what happened in our state is that the charter schools started with specific goals. One in downtown Austin is a school for dropouts. Another in Houston is specifically for children who do not have English as a first language. In many ways, it was a help to the public-school system by addressing problems that are harder for a big public school to address. In general I think they've been fairly successful. Standardized Tests
FamilyEducation: One of your husband's successes has been with standardized test scores, which have risen in Texas.
Some educators, though, say they feel they are teaching too much to the test.

Laura Bush: If you're teaching to the test, you're teaching what you want children to know, what's part of the curriculum. I'm not worried about it. Accountability is absolutely fundamental to making sure that schools are doing well, and not as a punitive test but as a way to correct, to find out where the problems are. Paid Parenting Leave
FamilyEducation: So many two-income couples are feeling incredibly stressed out. In 120 different countries there is some kind of paid parenting leave, where the government funds the ability of one parent to stay home after the birth of a child or when a teenager is in trouble. Is it time for paid leave in this country or not?

Laura Bush: I doubt it. I think that a paid salary by the government is probably not very likely to pass. I had the luxury of staying home with my children. I know that I was lucky to be able to do that. But I also think that if we got to a point where our government paid for things (like paid parenting leave), we'd end up losing certain freedoms. There'd be all sorts of regulations about what you could do while you stayed home with your child. And I really don't think Americans want that. Talking to Teens About Drinking
FamilyEducation: Your husband has been very open about having a drinking problem.
When your girls became teenagers, did you talk as a family about that?

Laura Bush: We talked about it, but I'm not going to tell you what I said to my girls. I think every parent ought to talk about it with his or her children. It's a huge problem in our country. Reading To Kids Each Night
FamilyEducation: Many parents are told by schools, "Go home and read 20 minutes each night to your child," but research shows only half actually do so. What would you say to parents who think, "Yeah I should, but I'm just so tired at the end of the day?"

Laura Bush: If they just would try it once, they'd find it not only relaxes their child, it relaxes them.

I know how busy families are, and how many demands are on mothers, but there are also so few years between when a child is born and when he starts school that I hope parents will just take those few minutes as often as they can.

Not only is it great for brain development and gives a child a big advantage when he starts school because of a larger vocabulary, it's also great for making loving memories. I have this big Texas book festival in Austin that's a fundraiser for public libraries, and almost to a person, every professional writer (who attends) had a mother or dad who loved to read to them. That shows just how important reading is at home. Being First Lady
FamilyEducation: When you think about what your role would be, are there a few first ladies who you look at and say, "I like the way she did it?"

Laura Bush: Of course! My mother-in-law. I like the way she did it but I also love her. I have a real advantage having Barbara Bush as a mother-in-law, not because of the way she was as a first lady but because of the way she is as a mother and a grandmother. She really supports her children with her love, and we can feel it even to this day, when we're in our mid 50's.