The best thing about the state Department of Education’s tentative proposal to tie earning a high-school diploma to mastering the Learning Results is that it wouldn’t begin until 2006. That should give Maine educators and the public plenty of time to debate the strengths and weaknesses in the idea.

One potential weakness is the inclusion of a statewide component (the Maine Educational Assessment test) in what amounts to an exit exam when the department itself has recognized that many students currently are not being taught essential skills because of a lack of resources. The students who would be first affected by the 2006 deadline are now in middle school; half their K-12 educations are behind them. A recent study of the cost of implementing the state’s Essential Programs and Services model of funding, due to begin in a couple of years, finds a statewide education funding shortfall of $147 million.

It is worse than that number implies for many students because while some schools have more than enough funding to meet the standards in the new model, others are far behind. There is no particular plan for making up this shortfall, just a recognition that some students aren’t receiving basic services, particularly in foreign languages and the arts.

The department’s proposal to subject students to a standard level of mastery for the MEA, when officials know that education across the state is anything but standard, is an interesting idea. It may force school boards from currently underfunded communities to demand equity in ever-louder voices. On the other hand, it may disproportionately deny diplomas to students from poorer districts, in some cases ending their formal educations and their chance to catch up, for instance, through technical or community college. With widespread agreement that success in higher education will become ever more important to finding a satisfying career, the proposal makes for quite an experiment.

The department appears eager to provide plenty of opportunity for the public to comment on the proposal before a form of it is approved. It would be even more reassuring if it put more emphasis on obtaining the needed resources for schools before talking about the outcomes it expected.