WASHINGTON — When President Bush steps to the podium today for his last State of the Union address, he is expected to call on Congress to reauthorize his landmark education law, but Hawai'i's lawmakers will be a tough sell.

During the six years the law has been in effect, the state's schools have languished in the bottom quarter nationally, despite slight gains.

Bush also may mention some of his proposed changes that would expand testing to high schools, offer merit pay to teachers and increase the use of private school vouchers for students in failing public schools.

Bush has threatened to veto any reauthorization that "weakens the accountability system" in the law, such as the emphasis on testing.

But politicking during this year's election campaigns may focus more on the economy and the Iraq war, pushing the education issue to a back burner.

The law, known as the No Child Left Behind Act, ended Oct. 1, but its programs have continued under an automatic one-year extension.

Heralded as one of Bush's most significant accomplishments of his first term, the law was meant to increase accountability of schools and states, while giving parents more say in what school their children attend.

Hawai'i's congressional delegation, all Democrats, says the law should not be reauthorized unless major changes are made, including lessening its emphasis on testing and providing more money to carry out its provisions.

"The No Child Left Behind Act bears an impressively sympathetic name, but I fear the act itself has fallen short of its initial goals," said Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i. "At its core, the act promised higher standards for educators and schools, achievement testing to measure success and funding to support both the increased standards and the testing."

But, Inouye said, the law's standards have been applied "inflexibly" to punish schools and educators, testing has been unfair and expensive, and federal funding has been less than required.

Rep. Mazie Hirono, a member of the House Education and Labor Committee, which has jurisdiction over the issue, said the law is a "huge federal mandate" imposed on the states and has created major problems.

"I could not support reauthorizing No Child Left Behind without changing the provisions that have an overemphasis on tests ... and how the schools in trouble were going to be helped," she said.

Hirono, who also wants an expanded pre-kindergarten program as part of any reauthorization, also backs allowing the use of multiple measures, such as graduation rates and other test scores, to measure annual progress by students.

Rep. Neil Abercrombie says the law should just be scrapped.

"It doesn't work. It's a federal mandate with nothing behind it," he said. "It punishes schools; it doesn't help them."

The national reading and math tests of Hawai'i's fourth- and eighth-grade students seem to show the state's schools are making progress under the law but remain below the national average.

Last year's annual Hawai'i State Assessment test, which examines performance under No Child Left Behind, also showed that more than 60 percent of the state's 282 schools met the law's standards for "adequate yearly progress," up from about 36 percent in 2006.

Some educators have questioned the results because the state used a revised test in 2007, which produced the better scores.

But the state's lawmakers say the small gains don't outweigh the problems.

Sen. Dan Akaka said that while the state's schools have shown a "small but steady" improvement, he was concerned the statistics do not reflect "the true success or challenges" that the schools face.

"A much better indicator for me is the many conversations I have had the privilege of sharing with our state's educators, who have shared their frustration with an unfunded mandate that does not provide adequate flexibility for Hawai'i's teachers or students," he said.

Hirono said that on balance, the law's impact on Hawai'i hasn't been beneficial to state education.

"If it had gotten the kind of monetary support that was supposed to come with it, then maybe (it would have had a beneficial impact)," Hirono said.

Some state lawmakers also believe changes are needed in the way student progress is measured under a reauthorized No Child Left Behind Act.

State Sen. Norman Sakamoto, D-15th (Waimalu, Airport, Salt Lake), chairman of the Senate committee on education, said schools do not get credit for making gains if small student groups, such as English-language learners, do poorly on tests.

"Schools are not being acknowledged for making great gains, and they're still being put on the so-called 'failing' list," he said.

Sakamoto also said states should be allowed to use a measure that follows individual student progress instead of the less-accurate measurement of groups of students.

Reach Dennis Camire at dcamire@gns.gannett.com.