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President Bush signing the No Child Left Behind Act into law, January 8, 2002
One of the administration's early major initiatives was the No Child Left Behind Act, which aimed to measure and close the gap between rich and poor student performance, provide options to parents with students in low-performing schools, and target more federal funding to low-income schools. This landmark education initiative passed with broad bipartisan support, including that of Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts.[132] It was signed into law by Bush in early 2002.[133] Many contend that the initiative has been successful, as cited by the fact that students in the U.S. have performed significantly better on state reading and math tests since Bush signed "No Child Left Behind" into law.[134] Critics[who?]argue that it is underfunded[135][better source needed] and that NCLBA's focus on "high-stakes testing" and quantitative outcomes is counterproductive.[136]
On November 1, 2005, Bush announced a National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza to prepare the United States for a flu pandemic, which culminated in an implementation plan published by the Homeland Security Council in May 2006.