Tribune editorial: Utah schools have a job ahead of them. They need our help.

Utah schools have to do better. But the only way that can happen is if Utah does better by its schools.

It is not just a matter of money — though money always matters. It is a need for parents, neighbors, employers, politicians and all of us to help our children grow and thrive.

Our students don’t only need taxpayer support. They need involved parents, older siblings who read to younger ones, volunteer tutors, affordable daycare centers that are intellectually stimulating, bosses who encourage their workers to attend parent-teacher conferences and school events.

And for the adults to stop wasting time and energy with embarrassing culture war battles such as banning books.

Here’s the serious stuff: A recent report from the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute finds that only about half of Utah’s third graders have demonstrated a proficiency in reading at grade level.

That spells trouble for the future of those children who aren’t caught up, and for our society as a whole. Students who aren’t reading at the expected levels by third grade are far too likely to fall behind throughout the rest of their academic careers and into adulthood, as they become parents and citizens.

That’s because, after third grade, most learning is accomplished by reading, being able to understand and apply what is read, not by listening or mimicking behavior as younger children naturally do.

The good news is that our elected officials, from Gov. Spencer Cox on down, see this problem and seem serious about doing something about it. The better news is that, at least from the governor’s office, the troubling stats aren’t being used to bludgeon the public school system, to justify defunding them or to encourage families to decamp for voucher-supported private education or home schooling.

The governor and the Legislature have raised expectations and pledge to do so further. They are putting money into the early grades and looking at following a successful effort to raise lower-grade reading levels in the high-poverty, low-investment state of Mississippi.

The part of the Mississippi initiative that gets the most attention is the fact that it has begun holding back children who haven’t shown reading proficiency by the end of third grade. Cox says he’d like to see Utah do the same thing.

That is a good idea. If, that is, we look at the rest of what Mississippi did.

Simply refusing to promote underachieving third-grade students and sending them back into the system that already failed them would be punitive and pointless. Mississippi’s successful system also added on a lot more screening, intervention, special training for teachers and coordination among classrooms and schools.

Another glimmer of hope is found in the Gardner statistics. While much of the Utah data shows the predictable correlation of higher reading scores in higher-income districts, there are some 19 outliers, up and down the state, schools where poverty is high but reading scores are above average.

If we could figure out how to bottle whatever it is that’s happening in those schools, communities and homes, we’d be a long way toward solving the problem.

Encouraging children to love reading, not making it a threat, can take many forms. There are programs where young students are reading to visitors, human and canine, or reading to shelter pets.

There’s no single, easy answer. Except to care.

Editorials represent the opinions of The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board, which operates independently from the newsroom.