Anchorage Daily News

Alaska has handicapped its young children by being one of only 12 states with no state-funded education system for pre-kindergarten students.

Here's another gloomy statistic at the other end of the public education system: Only about two-thirds of Alaska high school students graduate in four years, compared with the U.S. average of three-fourths graduating.

And of Alaska students who do graduate, only a third start college. Nationwide, nearly half of high school graduates are college-bound. So what's the plan to improve the odds for Alaska kids?

There isn't one -- but state commissioner of education Larry LeDoux wants to change that. Last week, the state sponsored the first education summit in many years, engaging about 400 parents, students, educators, university officials and others in a discussion about what's needed.

Friday they came up with about 50 goals, including offering state-funded preschool to the families of every 3-, 4- and 5-year-old in Alaska.

A sampling of other goals:

• Evaluating pre-school programs to make sure they're adequately preparing children for school.

• Establishing a statewide telecommunications network, with equal access for all students.

• Defining what a student needs to know to be a skilled worker or a college student -- not just the minimum standards the state now sets for handing out high school diplomas.

Meeting these goals would take school funding to another level. A much higher one, though no one made any estimates.

The true test of Alaska's commitment to our young people will not be whether a group of smart, dedicated people can produce an admirable list of goals, but whether the state administration and the Legislature will support them financially.

We can't say right now which reforms the state should adopt and pay for and which not.

They need to be thought through. The list will go up on the state Web site, be adopted and perhaps refined by the state Board of Education, and be publicized so that anyone in Alaska can comment.

But it's worth noting that other states, not as wealthy as ours, do offer state-funded pre-school, for example.

And it's clear that Alaska isn't doing enough to ensure the success of its students. If it were, we wouldn't have such abysmal graduation rates.

BOTTOM LINE: Alaska needs to take a hard look at steps that will improve public education, like state-funded pre-kindergarten.

Off the trail

Campaign is over, Gov. Palin; come back home and govern

Gov. Sarah Palin electrified the Republican Party base during the presidential election -- but her base now is right here in Alaska.

At least it is supposed to be.

The governor was absent when the state sponsored a big, statewide conference to chart the future of Alaska's educational system last week. Instead of lending her weight to the effort to improve education, the governor was in Miami giving a speech on the future of the Republican Party.

She had been back in Alaska briefly after the Palin-McCain ticket lost the presidential election. Long enough to say, hi, I'm back. Then she was gone on another partisan political errand.

There are pressing issues to be addressed in the state, such as low graduation rates, plummeting North Slope oil prices, proposals to build alternative energy projects, the gas pipeline.

Welcome back, again, Gov. Palin. The state needs you.

BOTTOM LINE: It's time for the governor to re-focus on Alaska's needs.

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