Obama Calls for NCLB Fix, Warns Against Ed. Cuts

President Barack Obama greets members of the audience after speaking at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, Va., on March 14.

—Carolyn Kaster/AP

By Alyson Klein

President Barack Obama on Monday called on Congress to revise the No Child Left Behind Act in time for the start of the new school year, while pledging to block any congressional attempt to cut education spending amid a continuing federal budget battle.

There were no NCLB policy prescriptions in the speech that educators and lawmakers hadn’t already heard from U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who as recently as last week urged Congress to renew the law on the same timetable.

But President Obama’s talk at a Virginia middle school was the first time he had devoted an entire speech to renewal of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which is seen as a rare area of potential common ground between the administration and Republicans in Congress. The NCLB law is the current...