Just about everyone agrees that education is one of the most important keys to the future of our young people and to the future of our nation as a whole.
That's the broad view.
Narrow it down and there are a lot of disagreements. Especially about how to pay for the increasingly higher expectations our schools must meet in a rapidly changing world.
Add in political considerations where lawmakers try to balance low taxes with high standards and it can become more than a challenge. The whole thing can become a crisis.
That's what has happened in Texas over the past several years. A Legislature determined to keep rein in costs has resulted in school funding cuts, a finance system that has invited court battles and a problem for local districts faced with tough choices.
The Texas Commission on Public School Finance is hoping to change that.
The panel's goal is to come up with a new system of school finance that would lead to legislation as early as 2019.
Right now they are still at work, but it is known that one target is the current system of recapture, where property tax funds are taken from wealthier school districts to boost resources in less affluent districts.
Called the "Robin Hood Law," redistributing tax revenue has been controversial since the measure first passed nearly two decades ago. Couple that with Gov. Greg Abbott's plan to limit how much school districts can raise property and continuing disagreements over school finance in the Legislature and it's easy to see the commission has a big job ahead.
We don't know what they'll come up with. And we don't know they will be able to convince anyone in the capital to act on their ideas. But we can only hope they can find a way out of this mess and that our elected officials will listen if they do.
Education is not going to become less important. Nor is it going to become less expensive. The state needs a comprehensive,, realistic plan that focuses on the needs of students, not the political considerations of those who care more about their next election.