Education reform

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, is the richest man in the world — his fortune was at one time estimated at more than $100 billion. Over the past decade, Mr. Gates and his wife have donated billions of dollars to various causes — AIDS prevention, Third World heath care, academic scholarships among them — through their charitable Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

On Thursday, the Gates Foundation added Strong American Schools to its list of recipients.

The group, headed by former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, who later ran the Los Angeles Unified School District for six years, hopes to make education a major issue in this year’s presidential campaign. To that end, it has started a $60 million effort called “Ed in ’08.” The Gates Foundation has agreed to put up half the money.

It’s tempting to say that Mr. Gates is throwing his money away on another effort to save the public education system by re-arranging the deck chairs. In fact, though, Mr. Romer has assembled a fairly bipartisan coalition and — thanks in part to his dealings with an entrenched education establishment in Los Angeles — understands that real change is necessary to ensure the United States can compete in a future world marketplace.

For instance, Ed in ’08 eschews some of the typical solutions to education woes — for example, more federal spending on schools or a government mandated national curriculum. Instead, the group proposes a back-to-the-basics approach and an overhaul of the hidebound, one-size-fits-all union compensation system for teachers.

In a meeting with the Review-Journal editorial board last year, Mr. Romer acknowledged the importance of allowing professionals to move into the classrooms as teachers without having to endure the typical pedagogical training. And Ed in ’08 is adamant that school districts identify good teachers and pay them more than their average counterparts.

The group is careful not to comment on individual presidential candidates or policy initiatives. It hopes to use some of the money from the Gates Foundation to produce issue advertising designed to pressure national and local politicians to articulate an education agenda which acknowledges that the status quo is not acceptable.

Despite the group’s effort not to ruffle any feathers among either Democrats or Republicans, true reform will ultimately demand a more aggressive approach. But Ed in ’08 embraces some important concepts. Theirs is a message worth hearing.