Clinton touts reforms for education

The senator made stops near Dayton and in Cleveland.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized President Bush on Saturday for underfunding schools to the point where some districts are cutting programs such as art, music and dance.
If elected president, the New York Democrat said she would work to revise the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act, which was approved by Congress early in Bush's first term. Under the policy, schools that receive federal aid face sanctions if they don't show yearly progress among their students.
"Yes, I believe in accountability," Clinton told a crowd of about 300 students and supporters in the auditorium of John Hay High School, part of a struggling city school district in what the U.S. Census Bureau considers to be the nation's poorest big city.
"But one of the saddest parts about what's happening with No Child Left Behind is that schools are cutting so much in their curricula because they are trying to keep up with demands in unfunded mandates."
Staying optimistic
It was Clinton's second stop in Ohio, where earlier in the day she spoke to graduates of Wilberforce University, a small, historically black school, and urged them remain optimistic about their ability to fight injustice and change society for the better.
Clinton spent about 90 minutes at the Cleveland high school, speaking with students and taking a tour of the school.
She said the U.S. can't have a cookie-cutter approach to education policy, a reference to the Bush administration's efforts. Clinton also said that American schools face greater demands to provide students with science, math and technology education because of global competition from China and India.
Clinton was introduced by U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a Cleveland Democrat who will serve as a national co-chair of Clinton's presidential campaign. Clinton attended a private fundraiser later in the evening with about 150 people at the Intercontinental Hotel in Cleveland, where tickets cost 100, 1,000 or 2,300.
The presidential hopeful addressed about 4,000 people during the commencement address Saturday for about 225 graduates of Wilberforce University, a private school of about 1,050 students 15 miles east of Dayton that traces its roots back to 1856.
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