News Summary

DAYTON — Education has taken a back seat to the economy in this year's presidential race. It wasn't until the final question in the last of three debates between Republican Sen. John McCain and Democrat Sen. Barack Obama that the candidates addressed such issues as early childhood education, No Child Left Behind, charter schools and college affordability.

Yet any economic solution for the country will likely include an education component.

"Long term, obviously, we are not going to have a good economy unless we do a better job of investing wisely in education and improving our schools, and helping more kids graduate and go to college," said Bob Taft, former Ohio governor and distinguished research associate at the University of Dayton.

Taft is a member of the state coordinating committee for "ED in '08," an information and nonpartisan advocacy campaign that seeks to inspire debate about America's schools and to make education a top priority in the 2008 presidential election.

The U.S. spends more per capita than any other country on education. However, in a 2006 assessment, American 15-year-olds ranked 25th of 30 countries in math and 21st in science, according to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development figures.

Taft said the next president needs to determine what more should be done at the federal level to support state and local efforts to improve schools, raise standards and have high expectations in line with international standards.

"Because we know that our kids don't stack up well, particularly in math and science, when they're compared to students in other countries," he said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2419 or dlarsen@DaytonDailyNews.com.