By Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 11, 1997; Page A01

President Clinton carried his campaign for national reading and math standards to Annapolis yesterday, assuring members of the Maryland General Assembly in a historic visit that he's not trying to usurp local control of schools.

Making his case in detail, and often with passion, Clinton confronted what has long been the major obstacle to enacting a voluntary, national plan of standards and testing: the notion that it would amount to a "federal power grab," as the president put it in his 54-minute speech.

He said such criticism was nonsense. "From Maryland to Michigan to Montana, reading is reading, and math is math," Clinton said. "No school board is in charge of algebra, and no state legislature can enact the law of physics."

That line was one of many that drew boisterous applause from Maryland legislators and other guests crowding the ornate House of Delegates chamber for a special joint session of the General Assembly. Dignitaries as diverse as George Washington and Woodrow Wilson have visited the State House, but it was the first time an incumbent president had addressed the Maryland legislature.

One of only six states where Democrats control both the governorship and the legislature, Maryland embraced Clinton warmly, and he responded in kind. The president lavished praise on many of the state's education initiatives, including a plan by Gov. Parris N. Glendening to give free college tuition to middle-income students who maintain a B average.

But Clinton devoted much of his speech to his call for national education standards in math and reading. Maryland has taken a lead in standardized testing, requiring students to take a battery of "performance tests" in grades three, five and eight. Some state officials worry they won't reach the goal of having 70 percent of all students pass the tests by 2000.

Maryland education leaders say the tests will spur schools to teach better. But some parents complain that schools concentrate too narrowly on the tests, and teachers unions say teachers are wrongly blamed for poor student performances.

After his speech, Clinton lingered to greet senators and delegates in the House lounge. Then, in an unscheduled jaunt that surprised his own staff, he spent two hours shopping along Annapolis's historic Maryland Avenue before ducking into Little Campus, a favorite legislative restaurant, for a bowl of seafood chowder with Glendening and other politicians. [Details on Page B3.]

"It was a fun day," said Glendening, some of whose education bills now before the assembly mirror Clinton's ideas. "Most importantly, it was a good day for the state." It underscored "how we are out front leading the nation," he said. "I was pleased at how forcefully he spoke out in favor of our program."

In years past, Glendening had distanced himself from Clinton, even endorsing his rival Paul E. Tsongas in the 1992 Maryland Democratic primary. But yesterday, the governor was by the side of the more politically popular president almost from the moment his helicopter landed at the U.S. Naval Academy.

Annapolis was among the first stops in Clinton's plan to barnstorm the country in behalf of programs he outlined in last week's State of the Union address, particularly his $51 billion grab bag of proposals to revitalize education. Yesterday's speech emphasized his call for national standards and tests by which to measure students, schools and states.

Clinton and others have steered clear of saying there should be sanctions for schools that fail to meet such standards. But many governors, conservative groups and others fear that any scenario of national standards could erode local control of education, an American tradition.

At an education summit last year in New York state, the nation's governors avoided any mention of national standards despite Clinton's pitch for them. Clinton hopes to overcome such concerns this year, in part by focusing his calls for standards in two areas in which educators say they may be able to unite critics: reading for fourth-graders and math for eighth-graders. The U.S. Department of Education is supporting the development of tests to measure how students in those grades measure up to existing, widely accepted standards, Clinton said.

"Keep in mind, we don't want Johnny to make a better score than Mary on this test," Clinton said, explaining his approach. "We want 100 percent of our kids to pass this test. And then, when a lot of them don't, we don't want to give them an F. We want to give them a hand up."

Clinton elicited laughter with an analogy to military training: "Think how silly it would be if [in] every place in America where we do basic training, they said: 'Well, you know, Louisiana is a long way from Georgia. We couldn't possibly have uniform standards for basic training in the military. Just sort of come up with whatever you think is good, and we'll hope it works the next time we're in the Persian Gulf.' "

Although Clinton's crusade may face a stiff challenge nationwide, his standards plan drew praise from Maryland lawmakers and educators. State Board of Education officials said they plan to incorporate the national tests the president talked about into their own program.

"I like the idea," said state School Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick. "For our children, when they enter the 21st century, their competition will not be local. It will not be state. It will not be national. It will be international, [and] we need strong national standards" to help them compete.

Virginia officials had a different view. "If Maryland wants to sign onto national standards, that's Maryland's option," said Ken Stroupe, spokesman for Republican Gov. George Allen. "Virginia took the lead ahead of Maryland, ahead of the federal government in establishing high academic standards. . . . Our feeling is that states ought to have the option to make that decision within each state. Just don't force it on the states."

During his speech, Clinton had kind words for several of Glendening's education initiatives, including plans to link all schools to the Internet and efforts by Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (D) to develop character education programs. He hailed Maryland as the only state to require high school students to perform community service.

The president offered particular praise for the free-tuition program Glendening is patterning after Georgia's so-called HOPE scholarship program. Although some legislators have said the state can't afford the plan, Clinton seemed to suggest that the state can't afford not to pursue it. In Maryland, it would be limited to families with incomes of $60,000 or less.

"There is no better expenditure of our money," Clinton said. "It will raise the per capita income of this state more quickly. It will get over inequalities in income groups more quickly, and it will bring people together for a stronger future more quickly than anything else."

Some legislative leaders were quick to offer caveats. House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. (D-Allegany), who introduced Clinton, noted that Georgia paid for its plan with a new state lottery. "There is no parallel there between us and Georgia," he said in an interview. "We have a lottery whose money is already being spent."

Clinton devoted the last quarter of his speech to an appeal to state and business leaders to find jobs for people leaving welfare. "This is a serious, stiff challenge," said Clinton, who then quoted country music star Chet Atkins in noting that state governments have asked for more authority over welfare programs: "You got to be careful what you ask for in life; you might get it."

Staff writers David Montgomery, Ellen Nakashima and Terry M. Neal contributed to this report.