Editor's note.

Anyone who survived this past election should know the importance of valuing education.

Scandals, outrageous accusations and fear-mongering became more important than one of our region's most critical issues: the future of our children. School quality, equity and funding got pushed to the back burner.

Hopefully our work over the past year, capped in this issue, has helped all of us--particularly politicians--keep the spotlight where it needs to be. Along with The Chicago Community Trust, Chicago Public Library, WTTW11 and Chicago Public Radio, we rightly decided that Chicago Matters: Valuing Education could make a valuable contribution in this regard.

This time around, it includes providing lawmakers and others hesitant to reform our school funding system with a price tag: $10 billion. That was the 2005 statewide social cost--the lost wages, the lost tax revenue, health care and various forms of public assistance--of nearly 880,000 in our state without a high school diploma.

If that doesn't convince you, perhaps the unfairness of our property tax-based system should. Families in poor districts pay far higher rates than families in wealthy districts, all for lower-performing schools. Some schools spend as little as $5,000 per pupil, while others spend as much as $20,000 per pupil.

But readers drawn to these statistics shouldn't forget the other stories that have framed this issue for us during the past year. They shouldn't forget the parents who overwhelmingly voted to raise their own taxes to better fund their district in south suburban Phoenix. Their children miss out on having enough bilingual teachers and reading specialists among other things.

They should take note of a national study released this year that suggests schools with poor students hire less-qualified teachers because of lower salaries. As we reported, those schools rely much more heavily on government funds, which gives them far less flexibility about how to spend their dollars.

Readers should also learn about concerns over school finance reform. State Sen. Steven J. Rauschenberger, an Elgin Republican, maintains that more money for schools alone won't solve problems, emphasizing the more important work of increasing accountability.

And Mayor Richard M. Daley falls somewhere in between, arguing that education should not have to compete for funds "with other important things like human services," but does not explain where those funds should come from.

In the meantime, educators, students and parents are working hard to find potential solutions to this quandary, also highlighted in this issue. Teachers in south suburban Ford Heights are just as dedicated as those in north suburban Lake Forest. Despite a huge funding gap, some students in both towns score similarly on standardized tests.

Advocates emphasize the importance of a range of interventions. Glenn W. "Max" McGee, superintendent of schools in north suburban Wilmette and a former state superintendent of education, meets with a group exploring how dollars could be infused into leadership training, literacy, teacher quality and early childhood education. His estimated price tag: $3 billion per year.

The Illinois General Assembly will surely renew this debate in the coming year. Wherever you stand, thankfully your views won't be drowned out by any more campaign rhetoric. We thank the Trust and our Chicago Matters partners for supporting our work on this valuable issue, and we look forward to another year of covering the issues that really matter to Chicago.

The opinions expressed by the editor and publisher are her own.

We welcome letters pertaining to our coverage. Send them to [e-mail] or 332 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 500, Chicago, Ill., 60604. Please include name, address and a daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for space and clarity.

Alysia W. Tate

Editor and Publisher