13 WTHR - Indianapolis News |President Bush visits Indiana Friday

President Bush visits Indiana Friday

New Albany - Calling it one of the most significant pieces of legislation he has signed, President Bush urged Congress on Friday to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Law during a visit to a southern Indiana school.

Bush touted the five-year-old law's emphasis on setting and measuring standards in his speech at Silver Street Elementary School in New Albany.

"I call it challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations," he said of the law that must be updated this year.

He also praised Silver Street, noting that it has met standards for the No Child Left Behind Law every year since 2002.

"Sometimes if you don't measure, you can find all kinds of excuses. This is a no excuses school - that means high standards," Bush said to a crowd of about 220 in the school's gymnasium.

The New Albany school has a high poverty rate among its 264 pupils and has done well in state testing, meeting the progress standards that are a component of No Child Left Behind every year, said Dave Rarick, spokesman for the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp.

The president was introduced briefly by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, and was joined by Democratic U.S. Rep. Baron Hill, who represents the New Albany area, and the man Hill beat in November's election, former Republican congressman Mike Sodrel.

Bush spoke for about 30 minutes, then shook hands and posed for pictures with audience members. After the speech, he was off to a fundraiser in nearby Louisville, Ky., for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Residents hung flags from their homes along with homemade signs to greet the president.

Michael Wells displayed red, white and blue bunting and streamers on the porch of his home across from the school, along with a sign that said, "Welcome to our porch, sit long and talk much."

"Regardless of your political affiliation, or what you think of the war, it's still the leader of our nation," he said. "I'm 45 and I've never seen anything like that in my life."

No Child Left Behind, passed in 2002, requires annual testing in reading and math for grades three through eight and again in high school. All students are expected to be working on grade level by 2014.

Rarick said school officials were happy to host the president.

"It's an honor for our students," he said. "It's a life-long memory."

(Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)