In his first public comments in the wake of the massacre, Mr Bush expressed concern over a spate of school shootings across the country.
"Being at this school reminds us we have a special responsibility to protect our children," said the US President at a California elementary school named after him.
"One of the most important jobs of those involved with schools and government is to make sure that our children are safe,
"And Laura and I were saddened and deeply concerned, like a lot of other citizens around the country, about the school shootings that took place in Pennsylvania and Colorado and Wisconsin," he said.
In a case that shocked the nation yesterday, a milk truck driver barricaded himself in a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, and shot 11 girls "execution-style", killing five of them. The man then killed himself.
The killings took place five days after a man took over a classroom in Colorado and killed a 16-year-old girl and himself. On Saturday, in Wisconsin, a student killed the principal of a high school.
Mr Bush said he had instructed Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings to hold a meeting today with experts to determine how the federal government can help state and local authorities improve school safety.
"Our schoolchildren should never fear (for) their safety when they enter into a classroom," the president said.