National Governors Association officials, from left, Chairman Maryland Gov. Parris N. Glendening, Vice Chairman Michigan Gov. John Engler, and NGA annual meeting host Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Almond, outline the agenda for the organization's conference.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Governors from both parties agree the education bill currently moving through Congress has a desirable goal of requiring more accountability for public schools - and some problems.

Democrats complain the testing program will force states to pay for new federal requirements. And a leading Republican governor says his colleagues haven't been given enough of a role in overseeing related state legislation.

Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening, the current chairman of the National Governors' Association, said it was important for political leaders to provide "not just the rhetoric but the resources."

The Democratic governor said the legislation would impose new pressures on schools to perform without providing adequate resources to make those improvements.

"This is what is so alarming to us, there are a lot of additional mandates, but there is almost no additional money to go into the classroom," Glendening said.

Several Democratic governors voiced support for that position during the Democratic governors' opening news conference.

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Michigan Gov. John Engler, the incoming chairman of the NGA, said Congress hasn't given governors enough of a role in overseeing education reforms in their states.

"I think Congress made a mistake when they didn't adopt the ... amendment which would have given governors a key role in adopting state education reform plans," said Engler, a Republican. "Right now, the legislation has language which I consider too vague."

He said it's not enough to suggest that a state's education agency consult the governor. He said he thought the language was inadvertent.

"That was a vote cast by senators from the various states," Engler said. "I want to remind them that governors have just as many constituents they have."

Glendening offered a humorous glimpse of the two roles he juggles as outgoing chairman of the bipartisan National Governors' Association and incoming chairman of the more partisan Democratic Governors' Association.

"I wear for another three days two hats - first NGA chair in which I appear bipartisan and inclusive and DGA chair in which I am truthful and straightforward," he told laughing Democratic governors.