Washington, D.C. ? President Bush said Tuesday that he’s open to new ideas for changing the “No Child Left Behind” education law but will not accept watered-down standards or rollbacks in accountability.

The president and lawmakers in both parties want changes to the five-year-old law – a key piece of his domestic policy legacy, which faces a tough renewal fight in Congress.

“There can be no compromise on the basic principle: Every child must learn to read and do math at, or above, grade level,” he said in a statement from the Rose Garden that was directed at Congress and critics of the law. “And there can be no compromise on the need to hold schools accountable to making sure we achieve that goal.”

The law requires annual math and reading tests in grades three through eight and once in high school. Schools that miss benchmarks face increasingly tough consequences, such as having to replace their curriculum, teachers or principals.