By Renee Schoof

McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

WASHINGTON

The areas where they disagree make education another of the stark public policy choices in this presidential campaign. Their divide was evident Tuesday at NBC's Education Nation Summit in New York.

In an interview for the summit, the president said that the big difference between them on education reform was paying for it.

Romney and his supporters "talk a good game about reform," Obama said, "but when you actually look at their budgets, they're talking about slashing our investment in education by 20 to 25 percent."

Romney, speaking at the summit, said he would not support more federal spending for education but would leave that to the states.

"I think we all know what it takes to improve schools --invest in great teachers," he said.

Romney has said during the campaign that a "world-class education" for American students was paramount to boosting the economy. His top reform would be a dramatic expansion of school choice.

Obama wants Congress to approve more spending for his key reform, Race to the Top, a competitive grant program which rewards schools that improve.

Romney wants to restrict Pell grants, the main source of federal financial aid for college, to just the poorest students. "Flooding colleges with federal dollars only serves to drive tuition higher," a Romney campaign education policy paper says.

Under Obama, Pell Grants have more than doubled, from $16 billion in 2008 to $36 billion last year. The size of the grants increased, as did the number of recipients, from about 6 million to 9 million.

In addition, Congress passed an Obama-backed effort to remove commercial banks from the federal student loan business. The savings, in the form of subsidies that had been paid to the banks, paid for the increase in Pell Grants, Obama has said.

Romney and Obama also have different ideas about K-12 education.

The federal government provides about 10 percent of the money spent on K-12. State and local governments pay the rest.

The Obama administration has used money and waivers from the requirements in the 2002 No Child Left Behind education law to influence what happens at the state and local level.

The grants and waivers provide incentives for states to agree to improve school, like raising standards, rewarding good teachers and removing poor ones. They amount to less than 1 percent of what the nation spends on education, according to the Obama campaign.

Romney would urge Congress to revise the No Child law to eliminate the federally required steps designed to improve failing schools. Instead, he'd require that states grade the schools so that parents could easily tell how they're doing.

Romney also would push Congress to change legislation to give parents of low-income and special-needs children the ability to decide how tax dollars for their children's educations should be spent.