Why schools need your attention

Education in Idaho is at a critical but exciting juncture.

With strong support from Gov. Butch Otter, the Legislature is poised to infuse public education with the kind of funding it needs to meet the increasing demands of tomorrow's work world. Property taxpayers are still being asked to shoulder a big share of the burden through levies and bond issues, but the state is showing a vigorous willingness to fulfill more of its funding responsibilities.

On Sunday, The Press will publish its stance on Coeur d'Alene's upcoming $30 million maintenance and operations levy request, which would cover two years of funding. But today, we hope to provide a little perspective for these big dollar deals.

Throwing money at any governmental program, even education, has never been an answer, and it isn't today, either. But nowhere is the return on intelligent, aggressive investment greater than that spent on preparing our children to become lifelong learners and respectable wage-earners. And now more than ever, that's desperately needed.

Not only are many of our young graduates wholly unprepared to grab and keep good jobs, but the field of competition is continually growing bigger and stronger. Middle-income jobs are going to India, to China, to South Korea, to a great many places where location doesn't matter and the workers are both well educated and willing to work for less money.

Add to the confluence of competition the rise of robotics in the workaday world. Do you know that, in your grandchildren's lifetime, experts predict nearly half of today's jobs could be done by robots? That's no longer science fiction; that's science.

While facing these challenges from the outside, a lesser but very real threat comes from within. There are people whose religious, political or philosophical views lead them not only to choose alternative forms of education for their children, but actively work to undermine public education for everyone else. We fully support parental choice on educational options. We draw the line at attempts to weaken or remove options for others.

Public education is far from perfect. In fact, it must improve substantially for our kids to have a fighting chance to make a decent living in the years ahead. Providing appropriate funding is just one step in the process, but one that assures failure if it's unfulfilled.