Education Proposal in House Could Replace "No Child" Act WASHINGTON - For the first time since No Child Left Behind, President George W. Bush's signature education law, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support a dozen years ago, a bill seeking to rewrite the law came to the floor of the House for debate on Thursday, dividing legislators along party lines. Lawmakers tussled over the role of the federal government in public education, with Republicans calling for a return of control over curriculum standards, testing and spending to states and districts. Democrats, by contrast, assailed the proposed bill, saying that it reduced financing designated for the students most at risk, failed to set high standards and watered down efforts to hold schools accountable for student performance. Both parties agreed that No Child Left Behind, which was signed into law in 2002, is in dire need of revision. States and districts have struggled to meet a deadline enshrined in that law, requiring that all students become proficient in reading and mathematics by 2014. But despite repeated efforts over the past six years to reauthorize the law, an amendment of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act that governs how federal funds are spent in public schools, Congress has so far failed to get a bill further than the committee level in the Senate or the House. Since the beginning of last year, the Obama administration has issued waivers releasing 39 states and the District of Columbia from the most onerous provisions of No Child in exchange for states adopting college- and career-ready standards and imposing teacher evaluations linked in part to student achievement on standardized tests. Republicans have objected to these waivers, accusing the administration of federal overreach. The bill debated Thursday, sponsored by John Kline, a Republican of Minnesota and the chairman of the House education committee, set out to reduce the influence of the Department of Education on local education policy. The bill had broad support from Republicans. It preserves the standardized testing regimen in reading and math first imposed by No Child, but returns to states and districts the ability to set standards and design systems for holding schools accountable for student performance. Described as an effort to "reduce the federal footprint" in public education, the bill, named the Student Success Act, would consolidate more than 70 programs. It would also allow more flexibility in the use of funds typically directed at specific populations, including English language learners and migrant students. Over all, federal money accounts for 10 percent of total education spending. Although Mr. Kline's bill still requires states and districts to report test scores and show how different groups - including racial minorities, those with disabilities and the poor - perform on the tests, they are not required to set goals or consequences for schools. Democrats attacked the bill for retreating from the civil rights protections that they said the original law was meant to provide. Without specific targets, they said, the bill would allow districts to mask low performers, one of the problems that No Child sought to address. Representative George Miller of California, who with House Speaker John A. Boehner was one of the authors of No Child Left Behind, spoke passionately against Mr. Kline's bill. He has proposed an alternative bill that he is offering as an amendment. Republicans said that Mr. Kline's bill simply allowed states and local school boards to set policies that best fit their students. "We believe that parents and teachers care for our children more than career bureaucrats at the Department of Education," said Representative Todd Rokita of Indiana, a co-sponsor. An unorthodox coalition of groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation's two largest teachers" unions, the National Center for Learning Disabilities and the N.A.A.C.P., opposed the bill, saying it did not provide enough accountability for parents, students or taxpayers. The Obama administration also issued a statement saying that senior advisers would recommend that the president veto the bill. Supporters include national groups representing school boards and administrators. Lawmakers passed Republican amendments on Thursday, including one that would guarantee that the federal government would not dictate curriculum standards, as well as bipartisan amendments allowing federal money to be used to train computer science teachers. The House will resume debate Friday. If the bill passes, it will face a difficult battle in the Senate, where the chairman of the Senate education committee, Senator Tom Harkin, said "significant differences" will need to be reconciled.