Education has been one of the top priorities for President George W. Bush.

His first legislative proposal as commander-in-chief was the now famed No Child Left Behind Act.

Passed into law by Congress in January 8th 2002, NCLB recognizes American students’ deficiencies in reading and math.

Bush described the act in a June 10, 2003 address as a guarantee that “every student in this country will be held to high standards, and every school will be held accountable for results.”

The largest reconfiguration of K-12 education since 1965, NCLB was a bipartisan effort. Even Bush’s opponent admitted in October 8th’s debate, “No Child Left Behind Act — I voted for it; I support it; I support the goals.” NCLB is a great example of how Bush can efficiently set goals and achieve them through bipartisan cooperation.

Yet, Kerry — who admitted to supporting the president’s education initiatives — also claimed, “The President has under-funded it by $28 billion.” The facts, however, stand in stark opposition to this statement. Since 2001, there has been a 49 percent increase in federal spending on K-12 education, and 250 million dollars will be targeted towards the improvement of state assessments of math and reading skills.

Here we see a fundamental difference between the domestic policies of Kerry and Bush.

NCLB promises math and reading proficiency for every American student by 2014, and Bush is willing to stay the course and reap the reward in the future.

Kerry, on the other hand, believes we can just throw more money at the test scores. With Kerry we would have a bigger education budget, but we would also have a more pocketbook pervading tax plan.

To perform his fiscal formula, which includes more spending in education, health care, and homeland security, Kerry will have to break at least one of his two chief economic promises: not exuberantly taxing the middle class, or eliminating the national deficit.

For more information or fact verification on the education strategy of George W. Bush please see www.georgebush.com/Education.