Bethesda, Md. ? For one night, anyway, the talk of the election was education.

In a night club in Florida, a brewery in Massachusetts, a yoga school in Louisiana and living rooms in every state, tens of thousands of people united Wednesday for public schools.

The more than 3,800 “house parties” marked an unprecedented attempt to restore public education as a political priority in an election debate dominated by war, terror and jobs.

“My concern is that the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism have taken away a good deal of money for public education,” said Barbara Collier, a fifth-grade teacher who hosted a party in Bethesda, a Washington suburb.

Snacking on strawberries and chips, the 10 people in the living-room gathering said they were hungry for change — more help for teachers, smaller class sizes, tutoring for poor kids as well as wealthy ones.

The liberal-leaning coalition behind the event wanted to get people thinking about what it will take to improve schools, but it also promoted its solution — more money. The talking points provided to party hosts send a message that sweeping improvement demands greater investment in preschool, afterschool, school safety, teacher training, college aid and more.

The money claims are disputed by the Bush administration and many supporters of No Child Left Behind, the law requiring many schools to show more progress or face mounting penalties.

The federal government, which provides less than 10 percent of all school money, has increased its spending in support of the law’s programs 40 percent since Bush took office.

But the president’s rival, Democratic Sen. John Kerry, says the $24.3 billion being spent is roughly $27 billion short of the maximum amount authorized by law. He pledges to provide all that money in coming years by rolling back Bush’s tax cuts on wealthier people.

Jessica Sank, left, Margaret McLaughlin, center, a professor of special education at the University of Maryland, and Carol Brody, a guidance counselor at Louis P. Rockwell Elementary School take part in an education house

Although organizers billed their event as one big night of nonpartisan parties, their individual political ties are clear. One sponsor, the National Education Assn., has put its weight as the country’s largest union behind Kerry. MoveOn.org, another event sponsor, has spent at least $10 million on ads to help Kerry.

The parties got the attention of Republican education leaders in the House and Senate, who accused organizers of trying to undermine the law and overlook school successes.

Rep. John Boehner, the Ohio Republican who helped push through the federal education law, in 2001, said the coalition amounts to a smear campaign by “radical left-wing” groups. His office set up a Web site, at http://johnboehner.house.gov, to counter the house-party coalition and its views about the law.