Bush To Refocus Agenda on Schools

Thursday, January 25th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) â€” President Bush ventured Thursday to a District of Columbia elementary school, trying to shift attention back to education after one-time political adversary Sen. John McCain thrust campaign-finance reform into the spotlight.

The president and his wife, Laura, visited Merritt Elementary in a poor and predominantly black Washington neighborhood. Bush, who joked that one reason for the drive was ``getting out of the White House,'' saluted principal Nancy Shannon, who tests students at every grade â€” something Bush wants all 50 states to require of their schools.

He recalled his twin daughters, now in college, complaining about tests when they were in school in Texas. ``My answer was well, I'm sorry you're sick of it but we want to know ... whether or not you're learning,'' Bush said.

``Accountability is not a tool to punish, but a tool to reward and a tool necessary to correct deficiencies. It's a positive tool.''

Bush was meeting in the White House later with 14 congressional education leaders, four of them Democrats, the latest in-person gathering he has convened to pitch his package.

Late Thursday, he was dining at the home of Monsignor Theodore E. McCarrick, the archbishop of Washington, to lay groundwork for next week when Bush will send to Congress his plan for allowing ``faith-based'' groups to receive government money for providing social services.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush is prepared to face the ``church-and-state'' questions his proposal will inevitably raise.

``His focus is going to be on helping people get through some of the worst problems they face in life â€” alcoholism, prisons, children of prisoners, helping people leaving prisons to re-enter the workforce. This is in many ways the next step in welfare reform,'' Fleischer said.

``Faith-based solutions are often one of the best ways to help people get through crises in life,'' Fleischer said.

Bush focused tightly on schools in his first two weekdays in office, hosting education experts at the White House on Monday and submitting his proposals to Capitol Hill the following day.

But on Wednesday, McCain, the Arizona senator Bush defeated for the GOP presidential nomination, visited the White House and changed the subject to campaign finance.

The two Republicans have both called for overhauling the way campaigns are paid for, but disagree on how to do it.

In what was described as a cordial Oval Office session, Bush and McCain discussed the issue but reported no movement on reconciling their differences.

McCain said afterward that Bush still did not support key provisions of McCain's bill or agree on when the legislation should be put to a vote, a detail now being negotiated with Senate leaders.

McCain's advisers said he wants a vote no later than March and, if that did not happen, he would try to attach it to the first available piece of legislation. The bill died last year in the face of stiff Republican opposition, but McCain picked up support in November's congressional elections.

McCain said after the sit-down he believed he and Bush would keep talking and ultimately settle their differences.

``I come away with the distinct impression that he's favorably disposed toward continued discussions on this issue and seeing if we can't work out something with the belief that both of us hold that this system needs to be fixed,'' McCain said.

Fleischer said Bush was not swayed: ``His position remains the same.'' But the fact that Bush and McCain were discussing the issue just days into Bush's term indicated they were ``not so far apart,'' the spokesman said.

Both men were eager to stress their common ground. McCain said Bush agreed that corporate shareholders as well as union members should have a right to prevent their money from going to political activities.

McCain wants to ban unregulated, unlimited ``soft money'' â€” the donations from corporations, unions and individuals that may not be used to directly aid candidates.

Bush supports a ban on donations from corporations and unions but not individuals.

Senior advisers said Bush did not expect to bridge the gap with McCain, but he wanted to show the public that he was willing to listen. They said the president hopes he eventually can embrace a GOP alternative from Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska or others.

Hagel has introduced a bill that would limit but not prohibit soft money donations. It also would raise the limits on hard money â€” direct contributions to a candidate â€” from $1,000 to $3,000.