Bush Sees Progress on His Education Plan

President Bush, seeking to inject momentum into the impending Senate debate over his goal of reshaping the federal role in education, said Wednesday that he is making progress with Democrats on the “core principles” of his plan.

Five days before the Senate is to take up the education proposal that is one of his priorities, Bush said there is widespread agreement to give states more freedom to use federal school subsidies, devote more money to fight illiteracy and give parents recourse if their children are in failing schools.

But the president did not mention crucial aspects of his plan--particularly, how much the government should increase aid to elementary and secondary schools--on which the White House and members of Congress are immersed in difficult negotiations.

“We haven’t agreed 100% across the board,” Bush said in a midday speech at Central Connecticut State University, “but we’re making good progress.”

The president’s trip to Connecticut came a day after three White House officials held a conference call with a trio of Senate Democrats to try to reconcile the considerable differences of opinion over education funding. Congressional sources said Wednesday that the half-hour conversation yielded little progress.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has called for a $50-billion increase in elementary and secondary education funding over five years. The White House has proposed a $4.5-billion increase for next year, but almost half of that would go toward higher education.

“This historic legislation deserves historic increases in education,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the education panel and a participant in Tuesday’s call. “It’s nonsense to think that we reform our schools on the cheap.”

Bush acknowledged the significance of the differences over funding but played them down. “It’s important to spend money on education--I recognize that, and we do. But I also want to remind you: Money alone isn’t going to solve our problems. And we have some problems.”

Some lawmakers of both parties still disagree with specifics of the administration’s plans to expand standardized testing and to use the results to hold schools accountable for their students’ performance.

Senate Democrats have balked at Bush’s goal of allowing parents to use federal education funds on a private school if their children’s public school is persistently below par. But under a tentative agreement with the White House, families in failing schools could, after three years, use government money to hire special academic help or to transfer their children to a better public school.

“We just can’t accept failure when we find it,” Bush said. “Something must happen. And we’re making great progress to provide parents more options when we discover failure, when we find the schools won’t change their teaching methodologies--for example, when they can’t meet standards, options such as charter schools or public school choice or private tutoring programs.”

Bush said that, in negotiations with senators, the administration is “finding consensus to make sure that the accountability system has got some teeth to it, that there is a consequence for failure--and, oh, by the way, a consequence for success as well.” Bush favors publication of schools’ aggregate scores so parents can compare schools. He drew laughter when he said, “There’s nothing like getting a mom involved by posting lousy scores on the Internet.”