Message is clear: Improve state's education system now

The following editorial appears in the Sept. 9, 2009, Yakima Herald-Republic.

The message that President Barack Obama delivered Tuesday to students in the Yakima Valley and across the nation can best be summed up in two words: Get serious.

That same message should also be extended to those trying to reform this state's public education system. Granted, we are in tough economic times, but they are no excuses for delaying a systemic transformation of how we educate our children.

So far, for all of the money this state has spent on school reform initiatives, the results have been spotty at best.

Despite the fears of some parents about a hidden political agenda in Obama's speech, what the president had to say should stir the spirits of parents, educators and students alike. Obama again drew upon his personal life -- of being raised in a single-parent family -- to detail the importance of what he was telling today's students.

"At the end of the day, the circumstances of your life -- what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you've got going on at home -- none of that is an excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude," the president said. "That's no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. There is no excuse for not trying."

Motivating students to do better in class is something that shouldn't be left to the president. We all need to repeat the message and, right now, we all need to get serious about finding better ways of reconfiguring our public education system.

Recently, a new education reform committee held its first meeting in hopes of one day meeting the state's constitutional requirement of providing basic education to all students in Washington. Whether this state has met that requirement has been hotly debated and is now the focus of two separate lawsuits to determine if basic education is indeed being fully funded.

Also being hotly contested is the end result of what this state has spent so far on public education. It's not a rosy picture, especially when it comes to preparing high school students for the future. According to statistics provided by the Washington Policy Council, a Seattle-based nonpartisan research organization, more than 30 percent of the state's students fail to graduate from high school, and among those who move on to a trade school, some 52 percent must take remedial courses in English, math or writing. If students head off to a four-year university or community college, 37 percent must first take remedial classes.

Those are not encouraging figures. The reforms laid out by the Legislature earlier this year are ambitious, and would be very costly if fully implemented. In revamping the way the state hands out education funding, a special task force noted these changes could amount to additional costs of up to $4 billion a year on top of the $7 billion a year already being spent on K-12 education.

Spending more money, even during times when the economy is robust, doesn't guarantee success. Decentralizing the education system may be one approach, while creating new mechanisms such as merit pay for teachers surely is another.

Accepting some of the president's favored ideas about education reform, namely the opportunity for charter schools to take root, should also be part of this mantra for getting serious.

Improving the state's public education system will require bold moves and creative approaches. Not trying is unacceptable.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Bob Crider, Spencer Hatton and Karen Troianello.