Bush Touts Education Program

President Bush on Wednesday renewed his efforts to win reauthorization of his signature education program when the new Congress begins work next year, and said he would not yield on one of its most controversial components: the requirement that standardized tests periodically measure students’ progress.

“We’ll be rational and reasonable, but what we will not do is allow schools to lower standards. And what we will not do is allow people to get rid of accountability systems,” Bush said.

He spoke at a Greensboro magnet school, presenting its students’ academic progress in recent years as evidence that the No Child Left Behind law was achieving its goals.

The measure expires at the end of next school year, but can be extended automatically if no changes are made.

No Child Left Behind, which Bush signed in January 2002, has become the centerpiece of his domestic social policy.

Critics, particularly Democrats, say that though the president speaks frequently about the law, he has not committed enough money to help pay for the requirements it imposes on schools.

Two hours before Bush’s appearance here, the Democratic National Committee sent an e-mail to reporters, citing a study by Democrats on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. According to their figures, Bush has shortchanged funding for the legislation by $40 billion since the law took effect, and in the 2007 budget he proposed providing half of the money promised for the most disadvantaged students.

The president spoke at Waldo C. Falkener Elementary School, which offers a primary-school version of the International Baccalaureate program. Its student body is 98% nonwhite; 91% of the students receive free or discounted lunches.

Over four years, Bush said, the proportion of third-grade students reading at their grade level had gone from 46% to 76%. He attributed such gains to No Child Left Behind’s demand that schools monitor progress with standardized tests and then act to correct deficiencies uncovered by the tests. Critics argue that “teaching to the test” does not necessarily prepare students to become engaged in a broader curriculum.

Bush spent much of the day in North Carolina. He joined politicians, local officials and business leaders for lunch at a local barbecue restaurant, where he ate pork and chicken, hush puppies, barbecue slaw, peach cobbler and vanilla ice cream.

Later, in Randleman, N.C., he visited the Victory Junction Gang Camp for children with chronic medical conditions or serious illnesses, and then spoke at a closed-door reception that was expected to raise $900,000 for the Republican National Committee.

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james.gerstenzang@latimes.com