This is the fourth in a series discussing the two presidential candidates’ stances on issues directly or indirectly affecting college students and university campuses.

Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry and President George Bush dove across the presidential debates’ finish line Wednesday night, as each candidate tried to trip the other over education issues.

Although the two politicians support financing the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), they differ when it comes to the amount of support and method of distributing it.

The act demands accountability in exchange for federal spending allocated to K-12 public education. In simpler terms, the act asks children do math and read at their respective grade levels. NCLB sets achievement standards for students and teachers and requires state schools to meet them annually.

By holding each school to a federal standard of success, the Bush administration has said it aims to raise students’ proficiency in math and reading and narrow the test-score achievement gap.

“It’s a common-sense approach to make sure students are learning,” Sharon Castillo, Bush-Cheney spokeswoman, said. “If students are learning, there’s nothing to be feared.”

In addition, the president said in the final debate he has increased K-12 spending by 49 percent since 2001 to raise educational standards. He said he has done so because too many kids were “just shuffling” through the system without learning the basics.

However, during Wednesday’s debate, Kerry repeatedly pulled the funding of NCLB into the spotlight. He stated the president has refused to fully finance the act by $27 billion in the last four years.

“He’ll tell you he’s raised the money, and he has,” Kerry said in a somber tone during the debate. “But he didn’t put in what he promised, and that makes a difference in the lives of our children.”

Bush rejected Kerry’s ideas on education funding, saying only Kerry, the “liberal senator from Massachusetts,” would not see a 49 percent spending increase as enough.

Castillo sided with the president.

“To suggest [under-funding] is to mislead the public and is a very irresponsible comment,” she said, adding recent studies say math and reading scores have improved dramatically.

Kerry, however, pointed to another statistic in the third debate. He said 500,000 kids lost after-school programs because of Bush’s budget.

The senator said the act’s “under-funding” has shrunk the supply of textbooks and after-school opportunities. He has promised to remedy this loss by adding $10 billion per year to NCLB’s budget under a Kerry-Edwards administration.

Wisconsin communication director for Kerry-Edwards George Twigg said the American people got “half the package” with the current NCLB. Twigg added the act’s funds have only given students means of testing, but no resources to enable them to succeed.

Twigg also challenged the act’s universal standards for measuring schools’ performances. He said the measure does not reflect on each school’s academic achievement. Instead, he said the government should ensure there are enough resources for all academic aspects, such as special-education programs.

“Otherwise, lack of funds pins special-education kids against other students, especially in smaller school districts,” Twigg said.

UW senior Shane Skelton said he supports Bush but thought the NCLB was an “awful” idea because it forces students of different intelligence levels to work at the same pace.

“Instead of learning at a slower pace, they’re learning nothing,” Skelton said.