Bush’s Education Reform Gets Poor Marks All Around

In the maiden political foray of his reelection year, President Bush picked up $2.8 million at a fundraiser here Monday after paying a brief visit to an inner-city school to tout his credentials as an education president.

Despite the strong bipartisan support in Congress that a year ago led to enactment of Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act, which imposed the most sweeping education reforms in a generation, the president is facing criticism on the issue from some conservatives, as well as liberals who helped him move the measure into law.

Conservatives and some school officials around the country are upset about what they regard as a big-government, top-down approach to reforming education -- one that has imposed strict testing standards on schools and threatens to tag many of them as failing.

Liberals, many of whom had worked closely with Bush in 2001 to pass the measure, are lambasting him for providing inadequate federal funds and leaving many school districts forced to dig into their own pockets.

The bill requires schools to set achievement standards and then annually test reading and math skills in the third through eighth grades. The law also allows parents to transfer their children to better schools or receive public funds for after-school tutoring.

At Pierre Laclede Elementary School here, Bush strongly defended the testing requirements.

“How do you know if a child isn’t reading if you don’t test? How do you know who needs help? I mean, if the idea is to make sure not one child is left behind, you better test,” he said. “We’ve got to stop this business about just shuffling kids through the schools in America. We’ve got to stop social promotion and focus on whether or not each child is getting the instruction he or she needs.”

Among the 100 or so community educators invited to the president’s appearance was Henry P. Williams, superintendent of the nearby Riverview Gardens school district. While lauding the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act, Williams also said the bill had forced school districts to spend their own money to meet the new federal accountability mandates.

In Washington, a number of congressional Democrats questioned Bush’s commitment to public education reform.

“The president’s budget fails to recognize that strong schools are as important to our future as a strong defense,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). He said Bush’s budget would leave “over 4.6 million children behind,” including 8,100 children in St. Louis, because it is “over $7 billion short of the amount promised for smaller classes, better teachers and higher standards when the No Child Left Behind Act was passed.”

Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), who had joined Kennedy in working with the White House on the legislation, said Bush’s actions since the bill’s passage had “severely undercut” its goal.

Briefing reporters aboard Air Force One, Margaret Spelling, the White House domestic policy advisor, disputed the notion that states were receiving inadequate funds. “It’s hard to believe there are not adequate resources,” she said, because the states have not yet drawn down $6 billion for which they are eligible.

Bush chose to visit Laclede because its students have made remarkable progress in reading. In 1999, only 7% of third-graders were reading at that level; today, 80% are.

“I want to congratulate you for setting the standard and keep raising the bar,” Bush said. “Make sure that other 20% gets up to grade level.”

About 1,100 Bush supporters attended his reelection campaign fundraiser, netting the president at least $2.8 million and bringing the amount in his campaign war chest to more than $120 million . Bush also is scheduled to attend fundraisers Thursday in Knoxville, Tenn., and Palm Beach, Fla.