Obama: 'No Child' needs replacing

WASHINGTON, May 21 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Saturday called on Congress to replace the federal No Child Left Behind law to promote education reform "from the bottom up."

In his weekly radio and Internet address, the president said public education reform -- which he has called a key element of making the U.S. economy more competitive -- will require "encouraging communities to figure out what's best for their kids."

"That's why it's so important that Congress replace No Child Left Behind this year -- so schools have that flexibility," he said. "Reform just can't wait."

Obama talked about Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis, where he spoke this week to the graduating class. He said the principal and teachers at the school started special academies, made it possible for students to take AP classes or vocational courses and "created a culture that prizes hard work and discipline, and that shows every student that they matter."

"Today, four out five students at the school earn a diploma … 70 percent continue their education, many the first in their families to go to college," the president said.

"We need to encourage this kind of change all across America," Obama said. "We need to reward the reforms that are driven not by Washington, but by principals and teachers and parents. That's how we'll make progress in education -- not from the top down, but from the bottom up. And that's the guiding principle of the Race to the Top competition my administration started two years ago."

Obama said if states "show that they're serious about reform, we'll show them the money."