USTIN, Texas - George W. Bush yesterday unleashed some of his harshest criticism of Al Gore to date, accusing the vice president of offering an education plan ''with an illusion of accountability,'' of presiding over a ''national tragedy'' in reading, and of being ''locked in old ways.''
The Republican presidential contender made his remarks before heading off today for Maine and New Hampshire, making his first trip back to the Granite State since his loss in its Feb. 1 primaries. And, as he did after his 18-point defeat by Senator John S. McCain of Arizona, Bush responded to his recent sag in the polls with a sharp attack on his opponent.
''Vice President Gore offers more of the same,'' Bush told reporters whom he summoned to the tree-capped garden of the Governor's Mansion to announce the formation of a group called Educators for Bush. ''He will not end the status quo because he is the status quo. He offers the failed ideas of the past. I'm offering new ideas, ideas that are working.''
Noting that a hallmark of his plan is greater school, teacher, and student accountability, the governor of Texas declared: ''Schools should not be rewarded for failure and neither should this administration.''
This afternoon Bush planned to hold an education discussion at Moore Middle School in Portland, Maine. Tonight he is to attend a $5,000-per-couple fund-raiser for the New Hampshire Republican Party at the Rye, N.H., home of Cabletron co-founder Craig Benson. Tomorrow he is scheduled to hold another education discussion at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, N.H.
The Gore campaign fended off Bush's criticism by citing the administration's record on education.
''Clearly Mr. Bush hasn't done his homework,'' said Gore spokeswoman Kym Spell. ''Vice President Gore has a real plan to improve education in this country, and if Mr. Bush is so sure of his harsh criticism today, then he needs to be willing to sit down with the vice president and have an honest, civil debate on these issues. The American people expect and deserve to hear a debate from their presidential candidates.''
Bush has proclaimed education as the top priority of his administration, while Gore has said his first priority would be campaign finance reform.
During a two-week focus on education coinciding with the start of school, Bush has highlighted his proposals to test all students in grades 3 through 8; spend $5 billion on reading programs; appropriate nearly $600 million in additional aid, mostly for teacher training; and refocus Head Start into an early learning program.
Gore has proposed a wider array of federal programs, including ensuring pre-kindergarten for all 4-year-olds; $10,000 ''signing bonuses'' for the first 75,000 teachers who agree to work in inner city and rural areas; and $25 billion in bonds for new school construction.
While Gore is strongly supported by teachers unions, the governor said Educators for Bush shows that he, too, has front-line support. The group is currently organized in eight states, but Bush said it would be expanded to all 50 in ''the next few weeks.''
One of those at the news conference, Laura Owens, a teacher at Barron County High School in Lexington, Ky., pointed to rising test scores in Texas as proof that the Bush plan will work.
''He doesn't have a plan that's just on paper, like others. He has a plan that has been implemented and worked in the state of Texas. I want that to work in Kentucky and I want that to work across the United States,'' Owens said.
Pointing to his student-testing proposal, Bush noted that Gore supports a voluntary national test that would be administered in only the fourth and eighth grades.
''Vice President Gore offers only an illusion of accountability,'' he said, likening it to a company that releases its earnings ''once every three or four years.''
On reading, he added: ''In seven years in office, my opponent presides over a national tragedy: 70 percent of fourth-graders in our highest-poverty states cannot read.''
Spell said Gore has pushed accountability and cited the administration's decision in 1996 to close 100 Head Start centers that did not meet national standards. She said the administration already has the goal of teaching every child to read by third grade, backed up with $260 million in federal grants. Spell also said Gore supports testing new teachers and peer reviews for existing ones.
Bush visited Maine in June for a working vacation at his family home in Kennebunkport. Reminded that he was making his first visit to New Hampshire since his primary loss, Bush chuckled when asked what he had learned there last winter.
''I learned that first place is better than second place,'' he said.
''I look forward to seeing my friends in New Hampshire and hope full well I can reach some of John McCain's supporters and carry that important state.''
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
