Washington ? Democrat John Kerry told teachers on Friday that his first presidential priority would be financial support for schools, saying educators who move kids from sorrow to success need big help themselves.

“Millions of children have been left behind — left with overcrowded classrooms, left without textbooks and left without the high-quality tests that we know really measure learning,” Kerry told 3,000 delegates of the American Federation of Teachers at their biennial convention.

“So I’ll tell you what: Politicians who talk about valuing morality and personal responsibility ought to start by keeping their own promises,” Kerry said.

In accusing President Bush of reneging on a pledge to fully pay for his No Child Left Behind education law, Kerry seized on a complaint that’s emerged from statehouses to schoolhouses.

Kerry pledged to spend as much on the law as authorized for its programs — at least $27 billion more, he said — by rolling back part of Bush’s tax cuts.

The Bush campaign says Kerry is the one who hasn’t kept his word, as the four-term Massachusetts senator voted for the landmark law in 2001 but now criticizes its enforcement, its funding and some of its provisions.

Kerry’s 45-minute speech served as a reminder that education, which lags behind terrorism and jobs in polls of the public’s concerns, remains an issue that touches many voters’ lives.

Kerry pledged to reduce teachers’ health care costs, put greater emphasis on high school graduation rates and improve access to college.

“Pay for teachers in America today is a national disgrace,” Kerry said. “We need to raise it — starting in the poorest schools and in the subjects where we face the most serious teacher shortages.”

He repeatedly tied his campaign theme of American values to the daily dedication of teachers. He said he needed their political commitment, too, encouraging them to inspire other voters to join the cause.

The AFT endorsed Kerry before his comments, sealing his support from both major teachers unions. The union envisions a Kerry White House that would give voice to its ideas, boost spending at all levels of education and slow momentum for federal experiments in private-school vouchers.

The labor union plans to work for Kerry, putting paid staff in the most contested states.