From the AP wire, via the San Jose Mercury News, "Bush Decries Critics of New Education Law":

Gearing up for a possible election year fight on his education initiative, President Bush defended his "No Child Left Behind" law against critics who say it's been shortchanged and assumes all students learn at the same rates.

"The time for excuses has passed," Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address.

Bush plans to mark the second anniversary of the initiative, the cornerstone of his domestic agenda, during speeches at an elementary school in St. Louis on Monday and one in Knoxville, Tenn., on Thursday.

Bush and other Republicans say the law, which the president signed on Jan. 8, 2002, expands testing and toughens standards for teachers, schools and students.

The initiative, however, has lost support of some Democrats who say too little money has been spent on the mandated actions. Critics have argued that the funding increases that Bush touts aren't nearly enough to cover the costs of the new requirements, including the expense of creating tests and processing their results.

Congressional Democrats have tried without success to provide billions of dollars of additional funding.

In the weekly Democratic radio address, Rep. Tim Bishop, D-N.Y., said this year's congressional agenda needs to include more money for "No Child Left Behind."

"Improving education is an American priority," Bishop said. "But last year, it was left under funded by more than $8 billion. This gap has placed a great burden on our educators and local school taxes."