I have received considerable criticism from public school educators for my statement that it is a good thing that the federal No Child Left Behind law has made them “a little nervous,” and I do apologize for my poor choice of words.

The words were not only inappropriate but also undermined the point I was trying to make; namely, that to the extent that NCLB promotes greater accountability for our public schools and puts some pressure on them to meet higher standards then it will be a positive force for public schools and our country.

In making my comments I also failed to state that, despite its more positive aspects, some changes must be made to the law. As Tacoma School Superintendent Jim Shoemake correctly pointed out, the current yearly progress requirements for ESL students do not make sense, nor do some of those same requirements for developmentally disabled students.

In addition, in the three budget years since enactment, President Bush has provided nearly $20 billion less for implementation of NCLB than he promised he would when he signed the law, and this is a significant impediment to its successful implementation.

I do not, however, want these problems with NCLB nor my inaccurate and poorly stated comments to obscure four things I strongly believe.

First, we must never abandon public schools because they do and must form the backbone of a strong community and a prosperous society. I attended public schools, have voted for tax increases and against tax cuts in large part because of my support for greater funding for public education. I will send my two children to the Tacoma public school in my neighborhood when they reach school age.

Second, the fact that so many of my neighbors and others in the South Sound region will choose not to send their children to public schools due to their belief that those schools are not good enough cannot be ignored. It demonstrates the critical need for those schools to get better in order to stem this erosion of public support and ensure that taxpayers continue to support public schools in sufficient numbers to provide the needed funding.

Third, high standards, high expectations and greater accountability are critical pieces of maintaining and growing support for public schools and making those schools perform better. We cannot afford to go back on the hard-earned reforms reflected in the WASL, Washington state education reform and NCLB.

We have come a long way from the system that existed when I graduated from Tyee High School in 1983 – a system that had no standards. I simply sat in the right number of classes for the right amount of time and passed enough of the tests my teachers gave me by whatever system they chose to devise to “earn” my diploma.

Whether or not I knew anything, nobody could say for sure. I was out and that was all that mattered.

In Washington state and throughout the country we have worked to change this by measuring performance and ensuring our students have some specific skills when they graduate. If we stay off this course, we will have a far greater chance of convincing taxpayers that their money is being well spent on public schools.

Fourth, and this is the main reason for the frustration that led to my comments in the first place, in far too many cases far too many public school educators have resisted these changes. For example, the resistance to Washington state’s education reform law resulted in an extremely long, 15-year phase-in, from passage in 1993 to full implementation in 2008. Even now, some advocate elimination of the WASL and strongly oppose reforms to pay individual teachers based on performance. While we should always be trying to do better and improve our schools, abandoning these reforms and standards would be a major step backward that will not serve our children or public education well.

The No Child Left Behind law must be fixed, but the principles of high standards and accountability in our public schools must remain and public school educators must show that they will support that effort.

Taxpayers will be far more willing to provide money necessary for public schools, funds necessary to reduce class sizes and to finally pay teachers what they deserve among other priorities, if they see a public school system where teachers are rewarded for their performance, students must live up to high standards, and schools are accountable for results.