It is refreshing to see a leader who will look for new ways to deal with reality rather than fill a speech with unfunded promises that don't last any longer than the applause they are designed to create. There was little applause during Sanford's speech to the General Assembly, much of which is printed on the opposite page.

Sanford deserves praise for saying state government must improve its own accountability, quit raiding trust funds, quit funding so many ongoing programs with one-time money, carefully examine its overall tax scheme and make changes to achieve specific results, look at long-term consequences of today's actions and introduce more coordination and logic in the delivery of state services.

Sanford's willingness to rock the boat on higher education is the best place to get a feel for what this unusual governor is all about. He looks under the hood. He wants to know why things work the way they do. He's willing to suggest an alternative. He concentrates on producing a focused mission with the cheapest possible delivery. He is unafraid to state the obvious: this state is too small and too poor to have 33 state institutions of higher learning, including two medical schools.

But his blind spot remains South Carolina's public schools in grades K-12.

Sanford was unfair to be so harsh on the schools in his speech. He said the public schools are a failure that need government-sponsored competition. This while he sugarcoats his treatment of the public schools in his proposed budget.

He said he will pump more dollars into the state's basic per-pupil allocation. But he did not say that much of it comes from shifting funds around, using lottery money and cutting some programs credited with the recent improvements that he should have, but did not, give the public schools credit for.

He said state expenditures on public schools have increased by 130 percent over the past 30 years, yet the state still ranks 49th in SAT scores. Look where this state's schools were 30 years ago. The real story is that the state should have increased spending by 1,300 percent to make up for lost ground. And, as a state senator noted, a 130 percent increase over that period doesn't even keep up with inflation, much less growth and all the new demands on the public schools.

As for the SAT scores, they are a bogus measure of the schools. Yes, the state must do better. But until all states test all students on the SAT, as South Carolina attempts to do, the national comparison is worthless. It should not be used as a sound bite to bash our schools.

Sanford chose not to share other factors that show our schools have earned much more than the $1,810 per-pupil allocation he proposes, an amount that is well under the $2,234 mandated by state law.

State Sen. Nikki Setzler stood before his colleagues the day after Sanford's harsh admonishment of our over-burdened public schools and painted a different, more fair, picture.

He pointed out a long string of improvements over the years, including higher teacher salaries, full-day kindergarten, First Steps to get communities involved in preparing every pre-schooler for an education, reduced class size, the Education Improvement Act and the Education Accountability Act.

Two weeks ago, Education Week ranked South Carolina highest in the nation in raising teacher quality, he said. Fourth-grade proficiency in reading has doubled, and SAT scores have seen a 38-point increase in the past five years -- the best improvement in the nation.

The Princeton Review Board has rated South Carolina's accountability measures among the best in the nation. New studies show the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test is among the hardest tests in the nation. Sanford and anyone else who wants to slam the public schools for not doing better on the PACT should appreciate that fact. One recent study shows that 75 percent of students nationally would fail South Carolina's fifth-grade test while seven out of eight would pass the third-grade test in Colorado and Texas. This unlevel playing field will make it especially hard for this state to ever meet federal guidelines for adequate yearly progress.

It's fine for the governor or anyone else to tell it like it is: the overall rate of learning in South Carolina schools needs to improve. But tell the whole story. The schools are improving, despite very long odds. They are grossly under-funded both in this year's state budget and in Sanford's proposed budget. South Carolina has too far to go for Columbia to throw cold water on the public schools at this juncture.