An agenda revealed.

Byline: The Register-Guard

What if the chairman of the Oregon Senate subcommittee that deals with economic development proclaimed one day that he believes Oregon is a terrible place to do business and that companies would be better off high-tailing it to other states?

Or what if the head of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee advised Oregon farmers to give up their trade and sell their tractors because of low profits and unfair competition from other countries?

It's a safe assumption that these legislative leaders wouldn't - and shouldn't - remain in charge of their committees for very long. If the head of a legislative panel can't summon at least a modicum of faith in the system he or she is in charge of overseeing, then he or she is clearly the wrong person for the job.

The same logic should apply to Sen. Charles Starr, the Hillsboro Republican who serves as chairman of the Senate Education Committee. Recently, Starr wrote a constituent advising parents to remove their children from Oregon's public school system. "I tell any parent who will listen to run - not walk - to remove their children from public schools," Starr stated.

Those aren't the kind of words that most Oregonians want to hear from any lawmaker, much less one who has been assigned the critical task of heading the committee that will help decide the future of the state's public schools.

Starr is a longtime champion of educational reforms dear to the hearts of many conservatives - charter schools, vouchers, home schooling and troglodytic causes such as posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms. In his letter, Starr repeats the right-wing mantra that children in public schools "are being taught the Humanistic/Socialist world view. They are taught that the mores/morals of parents are outdated, to be questioned and discarded."

Starr insists that such statements shouldn't disqualify him from a leadership role on a pivotal education committee and says they merely reflect his goal of reforming public schools. "The two mesh in that I feel we are failing our children unnecessarily," he told The Oregonian. "For 50 years, we have been dumbing down our nation."

Well, apparently we've been doing a good job dumbing down our legislative leaders, as well. Starr should know that it does nothing to improve the quality of public education to urge parents to yank their kids out of public schools and to advocate for alternatives that threaten to further weaken public schools.

In a show of overly generous statesmanship, Senate leaders say they won't seek to have Starr removed as leader of the education committee, and on Wednesday, Starr issued a half-hearted apology, insisting that "it was certainly not my intent to run down public schools." Several of Starr's colleagues have even gone so far as to suggest that he truly is committed to the state's public schools.

If that's so, then why haven't we heard Starr urging parents to rally to the support of their local schools - to volunteer their time and resources to preserve their excellence in the face of threats to their national prominence? Why haven't we heard him demanding that his colleagues help him find the new revenues needed to maintain and improve education at a time when cash-starved districts across the state are shortening the school year, eliminating programs, laying off teachers and increasing class sizes?

"I'm a huge supporter of leaving no child behind," chirps Starr. That's pure, unadulterated blather from a lawmaker who should - and, we suspect, really does - know better. Starr and his colleagues are leaving many children behind - and threaten to leave many more in the years to come.

It would be both heartening and refreshing to see - and hear - some real, courageous leadership by lawmakers on behalf of the public schools that are falling to pieces before our eyes. A good place to start would be finding a new chairman for the Senate Education Committee.