PRESIDENTIAL RACE Bush defends education reform

Bush plans to return to Ohio after the first presidential debate.
WEST CHESTER, Ohio (AP) -- Even staunch supporters of President Bush aren't sure whether an education reform law he signed two years ago is making a difference in their public schools.
"I'm on the fence about it," said Connie Schrand, 60, of Cincinnati, after Bush spoke Monday at an outdoor rally in the predominantly Republican county where he signed the No Child Left Behind Act.
In January 2002, Bush visited Hamilton High School, less than 10 miles away, to sign the legislation that requires more testing to determine whether children are learning and schools are effectively teaching them.
Critics have said that schools judged inadequate under the law do not get the money they need to improve and meet standards.
Kelly Howard, 41, a nurse from Kings Mills, said the affluent school districts in southwest Ohio aren't likely to be affected much by the legislation. Still, Howard -- mother of 10th-grade student at Kings High School -- said she supports more frequent testing of students as a way of gauging their progress.
Different views
During his 40-minute speech, Bush touted the education reform law as a way of determining which schools are effective.
"We now measure so we can achieve standards," he said.
Sen. John Edwards, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, on Monday attributed the high number of Ohio school levy requests this year to Bush underfunding the law's requirements.
In August, voters rejected 75 percent of the 103 school issues before them, the highest number of such requests for an August election in two decades and the highest failure rate in more than five years.
Rebecca Craft, 38, a nurse from Monroe who wore a pro-Bush button, has a son in preschool and two other younger children. She said she appreciates Bush's effort to prod students and schools to lift standards for student achievement.
"If they have higher expectations, they will work to the level of those expectations," Craft said.
Debates
Bush's trip to Ohio, a hotly contested state that offers 20 electoral votes, came three days before the first of his three debates with Democratic opponent John Kerry.
Bush said Kerry has shifted on key issues, such as voting to authorize use of force against Iraq but later saying it was the wrong war for the United States to fight.
"It's been a little tough to prepare for the debates because he keeps changing his positions," Bush said.
Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the crowd at the former site of the Voice of America radio towers -- which once beamed pro-democracy programs to communist countries -- numbered almost 50,000. Bush also visited Springfield on Monday, and plans to campaign in Columbus and northern Ohio on Saturday.
Kerry, who is staying at a Wisconsin resort to prepare for Thursday's debate, made one campaign appearance Monday, meeting with dairy farmers at a town hall meeting. Kerry told his audience not to be wary of changing horses midstream -- if the horse is drowning.
"May I also suggest that we need a taller horse?" Kerry said. "You can get through deeper waters that way," referring to his 5-inch height advantage over Bush.