CINCINNATI - Congressional Republicans who want to change the way Washington supports education toured one of Cincinnati's worst public schools yesterday to see what the city school district is doing to make things better.

The district replaced Clifton Elementary School's entire staff, from principal and teachers to custodians, and spruced up the building in hopes pupils will respond with better proficiency test scores.

Reps. J.C. Watts Jr. of Oklahoma, chairman of the House Republican Conference, Anne Northup of Kentucky and Steve Chabot of Ohio said they want to learn from the effort to improve achievement at the school, where the new staff helped patch holes and paint inside the 94-year-old building during the summer.

Chris Crear, 12, a sixth-grader who sat next to Watts during the visit, didn't hesitate when asked what the changes mean to him.

"Nicer teachers," he said.

The three Republicans maintain that local school districts need more flexibility to use federal money as they see fit. They favor block grants from Washington that would loosen restrictions on the money's use.

"I see this experience, this school, as being a rejection of past failures," Chabot told reporters and school staff after a tour and a classroom visit.

Clifton Elementary, with 350 students in preschool through eighth grade, was one of the worst schools in the 47,000-student Cincinnati district last year in proficiency test scores.

Watts, Chabot and Northup also said they consider school voucher programs and charter schools to be part of the answer for improving education. They said they hope their tour of schools allows them to see programs that are working to improve education.

"We ought to make sure that no children are trapped in a situation where they cannot succeed," Northup said.

Watts, the fourth-ranking Republican in the House leadership, said he also planned to visit schools in Kentucky, Indiana, New Jersey and Pennsylvania within two days.

Tom Mooney, president of the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers, said Watts and Chabot have consistently voted to cut federal education support. Mooney said he wonders why the Cincinnati Board of Education gave them a publicity platform.

"They don't support public schools," Mooney said. "It's real clear; there's nothing subtle about it."

Mooney, who is also vice president of the American Federation of Teachers, opposes school vouchers. He said there has been no evidence that youngsters who receive public money to attend private schools do any better than students who remain in public schools.

The 77-school Cincinnati district, Ohio's third largest, has been plagued for years by achievement scores lower than suburban districts that spend less per student.

The federal government sends states and school districts about $13 billion in education assistance each year. Overall, that is an average of 7 percent of the states' total education budgets, though some cash-strapped states like Mississippi and Alabama get 15 percent to 20 percent of their school dollars from the federal government.