Bush Pushes Ambitious Education Plan
Pres Bush proposes a significant increase in federal role in public education, detailing an ambitious plan that includes requirements that states test all students in third through eighth grades and report on their progress to the public, states and federal government; proposal would also provide parents of children in failing public schools federal money to help pay tuition for private or religious schools; heart of plan is more accountability for schools receiving federal money and considerable flexibility in how those schools meet stricter standards; Bush signals that he may have to compromise on vouchers, a word he avoids using; Sen Joseph I Lieberman introduces similar education proposal that does not include vouchers; moderate Republiicans, in their own plan, have also stricken vouchers; Education Department, whose elimination was a rallying cry for Republican Party in 1994, would become significantly more powerful under Bush proposal, overseeing yearly assessents of how schools and states have progressed; aides decline to put price tag on proposals; photos (M)