Bush requests more education dollars

President George Bush

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CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) -- President Bush said Saturday he would ask Congress to raise spending on education aid to poor students by $1 billion, an increase of nearly 9 percent for the next fiscal year.

"Too many students and lower income families fall behind early, resulting in a terrible gap in test scores between these students and their more fortunate peers," Bush said in his weekly radio address.

The request to Congress, which would raise total aid under the Title I education assistance program to $12.3 billion in fiscal year 2004, follows an education reform measure signed by Bush last year.

The act increases federal spending on schools and requires states to test student performance annually. Parents of students in chronically failing schools are allowed to put their children in other public schools or given aid for tutoring programs.

Some critics say the Bush program's emphasis on testing fuels an overload of tests, wastes instructional time and stifles broader learning. Others say the program imposes unfair financial penalties on problem schools.

Bush said his reforms have gotten off to a good start and defended the testing requirements.

"Across America, states and school districts are working hard to implement these reforms. They are developing accountability plans and beginning innovative tutoring plans," Bush said.

"Testing is the only way to know which students are learning and which students need extra help, so we can give them extra help before they fall further behind," he said.

Bush said he would also ask Congress for a $75 million increase over last year's request for federal reading programs, which would bring the total to more than $1.1 billion.

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