PHILADELPHIA -- Mitt Romney took his newly-announced education agenda to a west Philadelphia charter school on Thursday, where he was met by tough questions from both inside and outside the school.

The former Massachusetts governor capped a week of campaigning devoted to education following a major policy address on Wednesday detailing an education plan emphasizing increased school choice and teacher accountability.

But during a roundtable discussion, Romney's faced disagreement from educators regarding his beliefs about class size, and he defended his views on the importance of the involvement of parents' in order to fix ailing public schools.

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Republican candidate Mitt Romney greets students in a third-grade computer technology class at Universal Bluford Charter School on May 24 in Philadelphia, Pa.

While Romney toured classrooms and spoke to students afterward, supporters of President Obama protested outside, attacking the former Massachusetts Governor's economic credentials, and mockingly accused him of only newfound interest in urban communities.

In the library of the Bluford Universal charter school, which has a predominantly African American and economically disadvantaged student body, Romney referred -- in more direct terms than in his policy speech yesterday -- to the achievement gap between white and minority students.

"The gap in the educational opportunity and achievement of people of color in this society, I believe is the civil rights issue of our time," Romney said.

Romney's education reform policy centers around encouraging school choice, and a question by the CEO of another Philadelphia charter school system cut to the heart of the matter.

"Whenever they talk about providing education for low income kids, they always talk about sending them to a school somewhere else," said David Hardy of Boys Latin of Philadelphia. "Why can't we have good schools in this neighborhood?"

Romney did not answer Hardy's question directly, but thanked him for it, and later expounded on his views about the importance of school choice, and that those choices must include options in the communities most in need.

Educators also challenged Romney over his belief, backed by a McKinsey study and stated often on the campaign trail, that class sizes are largely unimportant to student success, and not that small classes are not an educational panacea.

"It’s not the classroom size that is driving the success of [other nation's] school systems. And then [McKinsey] looked at it and said well what is driving the success of those school systems? It’s parents very involved and the idea of choice means you have chosen to be involved, parents are involved, excellent teachers, drawing teachers from the very best and brightest of graduates," Romney said. "And administrators that are able to guide the school with good policies of discipline and getting the right resources."

But another teacher on the panel contested Romney's statements, citing a separate report.

"There was a study done by the University of Tennessee, a definitive study about class size and what they said was that in first through third grade, if the class size is under 18 those kids stay ahead of everybody else all the way through school, including classes where you might have 25 in the class and co-teachers," the teacher said. "Those students lose their gains after a couple years. If you have small classes in those primary years, those most important years, that’s what makes the difference."

Romney rarely discusses social issues on the campaign trail, but today he made clear that his education policy has a home-based component as well, pointing several times to importance of an engaged, two-parent home in the progression of a child's education.

"Having two parents in a home makes an enormous difference," Romney said. "And so if we're thinking about the kids of tomorrow, trying to help move people to understand you know getting married and having families where there is a mom and a dad together has a big impact. And that's, in my view, that is critical down the road."

If Romney and his roundtable panel did not always agree, on specific policy points, the atmosphere in the conversation was collegial and productive. That was not the case on the West Philadelphia street corner nearby, where Obama campaign aides organized a protest and press conference with Philadelphia's Democratic mayor, Michael Nutter.

Nutter accused Romney of having "no record to stand on," regarding education from his time as Governor of Massachusetts, and mocked the presumptive GOP nominee for making an exceedingly rare visit to an economically depressed, urban, democratic and largely African American neighborhood.

"It’s nice that he decided this late in his time to see what a city like Philadelphia is about -- It’s May. The election’s in November. I’m not sure what he’s going to learn here today," Nutter said. "I don’t know that a one-day experience in the heart of West Philadelphia is enough to get you ready to run the United States of America.”

Today's campaign appearance will be Romney's final public stop in a short week, which a campaign adviser told reporters last week would be focused on education. After spending Monday and Tuesday raising money in New York, Romney unveiled his education policy in a speech Wednesday in Washington. Tonight, he returns to Boston for a fundraiser. For Romney, and the nation's schoolchildren still in class, this Memorial Day is a holiday weekend.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Mitt Romney on Wednesday detailed his education proposals in a major policy address, laying out a plan to promote school choice and reform existing laws -- all while combating teachers' unions, whom Romney blamed for obstructing many of the needed changes in the nation's schools.

Romney assailed President Obama as beholden to powerful organized labor groups during a speech to the Latino Coalition here in the nation's capital.

In his speech, the former Massachusetts governor called improving public education "the civil rights issue of our era," saying that unions favor teachers' well being over students', leading to an education system that Romney said was "third-world" in nature.

"The teachers unions are the clearest example of a group that has lost its way. Whenever anyone dares to offer a new idea, the unions protest the loudest," Romney said, quoting a former leader of the American Federation of Teachers. "He said, and I quote, 'When school children start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of children. The teachers unions don’t fight for our children. That’s our job.'"

Romney almost seem to draw on the experience of Govs. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Chris Christie of New Jersey, each of whom have achieved a moderate amount of political traction by doing battle with teachers' unions in their respective states.

Antipathy between Romney and teachers' unions has deep roots, though, reaching back to Romney's tenure as governor in Massachusetts, when teachers' groups ran advertisements fighting Romney's implementation of a statewide test required for graduation. Romney mentioned the ad battle, which was not in his prepared remarks, and decried unions wielding "outsized influence in elections and campaigns."

"As president, I will be a champion of real education reform in America, and I won’t let any special interest get in the way," Romney said. "We have to stop putting campaign cash ahead of our kids."

Obama has stressed the importance of working with unions, an important Democratic Party constituency, in his past efforts to pursue education reform. A top adviser of Romney's suggested, though, that Romney would work around the powerful teachers' groups in implementing his agenda.

"The opposition is going to be led by the teachers unions which of course have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo," senior Romney adviser Eric Fehnrstrom told reporters on a conference call. "We are not handcuffed at all by the political limitations faced by president Obama, who is completely beholden to the union leadership."

Romney's most ambitious effort would be to greatly expand school choice programs for disadvantaged students and their parents in a way similar to the capital's D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. Romney's program would allow any low-income or special needs student (in the so-called Title One category) to attend any public or public charter school in their state, without regard to district.

"For the first time in history, federal education funds will be linked to the student, so that parents can send their child to any public or charter school of their choice," Romney said.

Romney told donors in April that he hoped to dramatically reshape -- but not eliminate -- the Department of Education, and also said Wednesday that he hopes to make the evaluation of schools and teachers a state responsibility, instead of a federal one, as it exists under President Bush's controversial No Child Left Behind law. Romney said that landmark law represented a "giant step forward," but was also "not without its weaknesses."

Romney advisers said before the speech that none of the presumptive GOP's proposals today would involve new federal spending.

There were some elements of the Romney plan, though, that were still wanting for details. His plans to improve teacher quality were ill-defined; Romney vowed to consolidate federal programs designed to boost teacher quality and block grant their funds -- about $4 billion dollars -- back to states that he asserted would adopt "innovative policies" for improving teacher quality.

And Romney only briefly touched upon his plans to increase the affordability of higher education, vowing to "stop fueling skyrocketing tuition prices," but providing no specifics in his speech as to how to accomplish such a task.

The Obama campaign savaged Romney's record on education before his speech had even been delivered, declaring Romney's views on education are just the latest example of a philosophy designed to help only those at the top.

“Mitt Romney’s career in both the private and public sectors has been guided by one principle: helping the wealthiest prosper by any means necessary, even if it means undermining workers and middle class families. These are the values that he would bring to the White House and that would prioritize budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans over good schools and affordable higher education," Obama campaign spokesperson Lis Smith said in a statement. 

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) accused President Obama of campaigning on taxpayer funds in response Wednesday to the president's goading of lawmakers to act on a bill to extend low student loan rates.

In a hastily-arranged press conference, Boehner accused Obama of political theatrics in his two-day tour of three college campuses in swing states. In those stops, Obama assailed Republicans in Congress for holding up legislation that would prevent an increase in student loan interest rates.

"You know this week, the president is traveling the country on the taxpayer's dime, campaigning and trying to invent a fight where there isn't one and never has been one on this issue of student loans," the Republican speaker said on Capitol Hill.

"Let's fix the problems for young Americans and leave the campaign theatrics for the fall," Boehner added.

The speaker's press conference followed an event at the University of Iowa this afternoon in which an impassioned Obama pointedly went after Republicans who accused him of not focusing on the economy.

"These guys don't get it. This is the economy," the president said in Iowa City. "What economy are they talking about?"

The event had heavy campaign overtones, though, and, to boot, the Obama re-election campaign is in the midst of a weeklong focus on winning young voters, a core constituency for the president in 2008.

The legislation to extend the student loan breaks has been hung up on Capitol Hill due to a familiar fight over how to finance the bill. Democrats favor a version that uses a tax, while Boehner announced a vote on Friday on a Republican alternative that would divert funds from a portion of the health care reform law -- which the GOP calls a "slush fund" -- to pay for the extension.

Still, the urgency in scheduling this vote on Friday underscores the extent to which Obama has used the bully pulpit to prompt a Republican reaction on these issues. Amid the president's push, Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, made a point of saying earlier this week that he favors extending the lower student loan rate (though Romney didn't specify how he would finance it).

Michael O'Brien contributed.

Touting his administration’s new proposals on housing and education policy on Thursday, President Obama also said he had more work to do on both issues -- work that would require another four years in office.

The president today announced a $25 billion deal that requires the five biggest mortgage-lending banks to provide financial help to qualified homeowners and, in a separate speech, declared 10 states eligible for waivers from parts of the No Child Left Behind education law that measures school success.

Praising those 10 states for accepting the administration’s offer of NCLB waivers in exchange for “higher benchmarks for student achievement,” Obama also subtly reminded the audience that these new efforts will take years to implement -- well into what would be his second term, in fact.

“This is not a one-year project. This isn’t a two-year project. This is going to take some time,” he told a group of teachers and school superintendents in the East Room of the White House.

And while he praised the mortgage settlement, part of which funds remittance for improperly foreclosed-upon families, he added that his administration still needs to ensure that the banks fulfill the terms of the settlement, which could take up to three years -- again, the middle of his potential next term.  

“We're going to make sure that the banks live up to their end of the bargain,” Obama said, speaking in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. “If they don’t, we've set up an independent inspector, a monitor, that has the power to make sure they pay exactly what they agreed to pay, plus a penalty if they fail to act in accordance with this agreement.”

While he emphasized his administration’s leadership in the measures he announced today, Obama also urged for Congress to be his partner in future efforts, jabbing his frequent foil for not doing enough to further his priorities.

On the mortgage issue, Obama urged Congress to pass his plan to give more homeowners the option of refinancing their loans, which was announced last week.

“To build on this settlement, Congress still needs to send me the bill I've proposed that gives every responsible homeowner in America the chance to refinance their mortgage and save about $3,000 a year,” he said. “It's only going to happen if Congress musters the will to act.”
And Obama also blamed legislators for making him go it alone on education reform.

“In September, after waiting far too long for Congress to act, I announced that my administration would take steps to reform No Child Left Behind on our own,” he said, referring to his announcement last year that he would allow states to skirt some of the law’s mandates like full proficiency of all students in math and reading by 2014.

While he did give shout-outs to some members of Congress who supported his administration’s plans, Obama added, “We haven't been able to get the entire House and Senate to move on this.”