When I was once a reporter covering the White House during the Clinton years, someone told me, “When the going gets tough, Clinton visits a school.”

Sure enough, he dropped by school after school during the Monica Lewinsky and ensuing impeachment scandals, sometimes proposing a new program, sometimes hawking one of his many initiatives, sometimes just touting public education. Those visits were a temporary distraction from the bad news—somehow, being in a school made everyone feel better.

I thought of Clinton’s woes when President Bush actually mentioned education in the first 15 minutes of the State of the Union this week. Many analysts believe Bush’s speech brought up past victories such as No Child Left Behind in hopes of deflecting attention from his dismal approval ratings and desperate attempts to stay relevant in his last year of office.

“Six years ago, we came together to pass the No Child Left Behind Act, and today no one can deny its results,” he said to applause mainly on the GOP side.

Problem is, if Bush tries to take that message to public schools, he might hear from the many school administrators who want the law changed, or scrapped entirely. Sen. Ted Kennedy, a top supporter of NCLB when it first passed, appeared to wince at his words. (And in another irony, Bush also touted the D.C. voucher program and called for more vouchers for students in failing schools, even though D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee was a guest of honor of First Lady Laura Bush.)

But even if Bush had to bear a few critics, wouldn’t it be better to fix the law now and leave office with a significant accomplishment? Since most Democrats in Congress want to hold off on the reauthorization, my completely unsolicited advice to the president would be to take a cue from his predecessor and stage some school visits, talk to folks there, and push hard for changes this year. There’s still time to build a better legacy, at least in the eyes of school officials.

Joetta Sack-Min, Associate Editor