Go big or stay home, the saying goes. In that spirit, if public education is, in fact, a problem in Escambia, as so many local leaders seem to believe, then perhaps it’s time to do something about it — and something big at that. Instead of giving up $158 million for one manufacturer with 1,000 jobs, as Mobile and other areas have done, what if the Pensacola community made a bold commitment to spend a similar amount on public education? It’s not such a far-fetched idea. Palm Beach County committed $89 million in local dollars for a research institute, and it was matched by the state. If Escambia pledged the same amount per-capita, it would come to about $20 million. With matching funding from the state, plus some federal and private dollars, it’s not inconceivable that this county could find $100 million to spend. That amount of money would hire an extra 250 teachers for 10 years, for example. While there’s been much hand-wringing about parents in some impoverished Pensacola neighborhoods not having their children ready to learn, often-cited studies by Marzano Research Laboratory in Colorado show that effective teaching in the schools can, in fact, have a great effect on student achievement. With millions more in funding, Escambia School Superintendent Malcolm Thomas wouldn’t hire many more teachers, but he says he would invest heavily in three areas:

• Extension of the school day from 6.5 hours to at least 7.5 hours. Florida’s school day is one of the shortest in the nation. In 2012, the state required 100 of the lowest-performing schools to add an extra hour for reading instruction. After a year, three-fourths of the schools had improved reading scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, according to a study done for the Florida Legislature. In Escambia, six elementaries were put on extended days. Four of those showed slight improvements in reading comprehension from 2012 to 2013 for grades 3-5, district data shows. Two schools showed slight declines.
• Professional development for faculty — training teachers to be better at what they do, particularly in using technology in the classroom and in ways to engage students in more hands-on learning. Instead of asking kids to memorize an algebraic formula, for example, students would design something that requires the use of algebra to solve a problem.
• Incentive pay and bonuses for the top-performing teachers and principals.
• A laptop or computer tablet for every student, and more integration of the technology into all aspects of learning.