Washington ? Students are doing better on state verbal and math tests required under the No Child Left Behind Act, and the gaps between white and minority students are narrowing. But educators worry about a lack of money and skilled teachers in the future, according to a new nationwide survey released Wednesday.

Their greatest worry is that they won’t be able to fix the underperforming schools the act has identified, according to the study, which surveyed educators in 49 states — all but Oklahoma.

The No Child Left Behind Act, which President Bush signed in 2002, is “very strong in identifying problems in schools, but very weak in providing the resources to address those problems,” said Jack Jennings, the president of the Center on Education Policy, a nonprofit public-education advocacy group that sponsored the report.

Ray Simon, the Department of Education’s assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, disagreed sharply. “The perpetual cry for more money, once again echoed in this report, simply does not comport with the facts,” he said. He cited a $13.8 billion increase in federal education spending since Bush took office in 2000.

The No Child Left Behind Act is intended to get all students’ performances up to grade level by 2014. It requires schools to meet annually escalating targets for student test scores in reading and math and to close performance gaps among different groups. It identifies failing schools based on the results. Students attending schools identified as failing for two years in a row may transfer to different schools, and school systems must make special efforts to fix failing schools.

The good news, the report says, is that nearly three-quarters of school officials surveyed said their schools’ standard skills scores improved in 2004. According to school officials surveyed, the improvements are mainly due to teaching that’s more focused on the skills the exams test, better-qualified teachers and more attention to low-achieving students.

But educators in 45 states said they lacked enough teachers to implement the law fully, especially when it came to boosting scores at low-performing schools. To date, 6,000 schools nationwide have been identified as underperforming.