WASHINGTON — At first glance, President Bush seems well-positioned to expand his No Child Left Behind program of academic standards, testing and accountability into the nation's high schools.
He has larger Republican majorities in Congress. His nominee for Education secretary -- a top strategist behind the 2002 legislation creating the program in grade schools -- is expected to sail through a Senate confirmation hearing this week.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday January 06, 2005 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 47 words Type of Material: Correction
Education spending -- An article in Tuesday's Section A about the No Child Left Behind law said that Congress had authorized $20.5 million in fiscal 2005 for aid that targeted disadvantaged students and that it eventually appropriated $12.7 million. Congress authorized $20.5 billion and appropriated $12.7 billion.
What's more, the nation's governors are teaming up with education experts next month for a summit on reducing high school dropout rates and raising diploma standards. It's just the sort of forum Bush used early in his first term to build bipartisan momentum for a federal mandate aimed at lifting student achievement in elementary and middle schools.
Yet education analysts and some lawmakers warn that Bush could encounter stiff resistance -- from the left and the right -- when he tries to expand No Child Left Behind.
"I don't know if there's political will on [Capitol] Hill to expand testing in high school," said Krista Kafer, an education policy analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "I don't think the consensus is there."
Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), who sided with Bush to pass the law, said he wouldn't do so again unless the president agreed to erase what Democrats said was a multibillion-dollar school funding shortage.
"If you want real education reform, you can't do it on the cheap," Miller said.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), another key backer of the first initiative, has taken a similar position, aides said.
Among Republicans, some grumble that the federal government already is meddling too much in school affairs.
Days after the Nov. 2 election, Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), incoming leader of the conservative House Republican Study Committee, wrote that Congress should "reform the No Child Left Behind Act to reverse the expanding federal role in primary and secondary education, which is a state and local function."
Pence was in a small minority within his party when he voted against the measure in 2001. But so was Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), who is now House majority leader. Conservative unrest could grow; a decade ago many Republicans sought to abolish the Education Department.
Even Bush's allies on Capitol Hill say he will have to win over many GOP skeptics.
