Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama’s plan to give a televised speech to U.S. students next week has sparked complaints by Republicans that he may use the event to promote his political agenda.

“Questions have arisen about the purpose of this address and some of the specific tasks suggested for young students,” Representatives John Kline, the senior Republican on the House Education Committee, and Thaddeus McCotter, chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, said in a Sept. 2 letter to Obama.

Administration officials said that while the Education Department is encouraging schools to let students view the event, participation isn’t mandatory. The remarks are intended to encourage children to study, in the same way President George H.W. Bush’s comments were in 1991 when he gave a back-to-school address, said Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for Obama.

“This isn’t a policy speech,” Vietor said in an interview.

The Sept. 8 speech, which will be broadcast on the White House Web site and on the C-SPAN cable network, was criticized by Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer, who called it an attempt by Obama to “indoctrinate America’s children to his socialist agenda.”

“The idea that school children across our nation will be forced to watch the president justify his plans for government- run health care, banks, and automobile companies, increasing taxes on those who create jobs, and racking up more debt than any other president, is not only infuriating, but goes against beliefs of the majority of Americans,” Greer said Sept. 1 in a statement on the party’s Web site.

Suggested Activities

The Education Department’s Web site includes a list of suggested classroom activities that could accompany the president’s speech. That move drew criticism from Republican Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder of Missouri.

“The distribution of teaching curricula from the White House to the classroom clearly usurps the authority of our local school boards and school administrators,” Kinder said yesterday in a statement.

Democratic National Committee spokesman Hari Sevugan called the school-speech controversy an “absurd episode” that shows the Republican Party “can in fact come up with new ideas.”

“For example, it’s now clear that the new Republican education platform will argue against personal responsibility, hard work and staying in school,” Sevugan said in an e-mail.

‘Help the President’

The Education Department reworded one of its ideas for classroom activities on Sept. 2, the day after Greer’s comments. Earlier this week, the agency had suggested that students in pre- kindergarten through sixth grade “write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president.” Some critics interpreted that to mean Obama wanted school children to help him push his political agenda.

The true intent of that suggestion was “for students to write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their own goals,” Sandra Abrevaya, an Education Department spokeswoman, said yesterday in an interview. “We just adjusted the language so it was clear.”

School districts in states including Texas, Kentucky and New Mexico said they have received complaints from parents. The Kentucky Department of Education is encouraging school districts to offer alternative activities during the speech for children whose parents don’t want them to watch, said Lisa Gross, a spokeswoman for the agency.

100 Calls

The Dallas Independent School District received about 100 calls yesterday about Obama’s speech and will let each school decide whether to show it, said district spokesman Jon Dahlander. While most callers were in favor of showing the president’s address, some opposed it, in part because they thought Obama plans to discuss health care, he said.

“I’m not quite sure where that rumor started,” Dahlander said. “We think any speech by a United States president is worthy of attention, especially if he’s emphasizing the importance of education.”

The Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, the third-largest in Texas, plans to post a link to Obama’s speech on its Web site, while letting principals decide whether to have students watch it, said Kelli Durham, a spokeswoman for the district in Houston’s suburbs.

“If parents decide it is not appropriate for their children, we will accommodate them,” Durham said in an interview. “They may leave the room and then return” when the speech is over.

Recorded Speech

The Dickinson Independent School District, also in suburban Houston, won’t show the live speech. School officials will record the address and teachers who want to show it will give parents a chance to opt their children out of watching it, the district said yesterday in a statement on its Web site.

Public schools in Albuquerque, New Mexico, will show Obama’s address live, said Rico Chavez, a spokesman for the district. Albuquerque schools will provide alternate activities for children whose parents don’t want them to watch, Chavez said.

“We’ve gotten sort of mixed phone calls,” Chavez said yesterday in an interview. “Some are saying everyone should be required to watch it; others want to be able to opt out.”

Kline of Minnesota and McCotter of Michigan asked Obama to release the text of the speech in advance, so parents can decide whether to let their kids watch it.

The administration was already planning to release the speech to the public in advance, Abrevaya said. The White House and Education Department will post it on their Web sites the night before Obama’s address, she said.

“I think when parents who are concerned see the speech” before it airs, “they’ll be comfortable with it,” she said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Molly Peterson in Washington at mpeterson9@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: September 4, 2009 17:03 EDT