PRESIDENT OBAMA'S speech on education this week offered a nice national nod to Massachusetts's education reform efforts - and presented a distinct challenge to Democrats like his good friend Deval Patrick.
First the challenge. Highlighting their success at innovating, the president gave charter schools a ringing endorsement.
"But right now, there are many caps on how many charter schools are allowed in some states, no matter how well they're preparing our students," Obama said. "That isn't good for our children, our economy, or our country."
After stipulating that states need a rigorous selection and oversight process for charters, the president urged this bold action: "I call on states to reform their charter rules and lift caps on the number of allowable charter schools, wherever such caps are in place."
Um, Governor Patrick? Lieutenant Governor Murray? Legislative leaders? That's your Democratic president speaking.
On charters, Obama is refreshingly willing to put the interests of kids and families first, even though teachers unions are vehemently opposed to the independent academies, where faculties aren't automatically unionized and pay increases are based on performance.
Once a pronounced charter skeptic, Patrick has started to come around. He has called for raising the charter cap in the 50 lowest-performing districts, but would require new charters to draw their students disproportionately from demographic groups that lag in academic achievement. Charter advocates contend the governor's strict conditions would be hard to square with the blind lotteries charters use for student selection.
Nor is there a good reason to deny charter opportunities to other hopeful families. Given the clear demand for charter slots as evidenced by the long waiting lists, Patrick's requirements would be unfairly restrictive.
"We appreciate that the governor has moved on the charter cap issue, but we would prefer it if he simply took the president's advice, at least for the urban districts, and called for lifting the cap outright," says Boston Foundation President Paul Grogan, a leading voice for more choice and innovation in education.
So will Patrick accept the president's challenge? Although Secretary of Education Paul Reville hadn't yet discussed the matter with the governor, who has been on vacation, Reville said his guess is that the administration will stick with its current approach to raising the cap, while pushing for charter-like (or is that charter-lite?) readiness schools.
"We are trying to skin the cat a different way and not run head on into the midst of what the president has called a stale debate, in which we have been stalled out for a number of years," Reville told me.
But that misses the president's point. Obama's message was that we should get beyond long-standing ideological debates by supporting what works. And the best charters are showing impressive results.
That's why Patrick should use the president's challenge to move beyond his own limited step. If he doesn't, the governor and the Commonwealth will have missed an important opportunity.
Now for the good news. In the same speech, Obama cited Massachusetts's educational standards and mentioned the strong (statistically tied-for-first in the world) performance by our eighth-graders on the science exam portion of the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study.
While many other states have dumbed down their standards, we haven't. Instead, Massachusetts has defined what students should know and tested them on it. And despite the early caterwauling about the MCAS, the exam has helped make education reform a success, while focusing attention on kids who need academic help.
Then there's the matter of extended learning time. Noting that US students spend over a month less in school each year than their South Korean counterparts, Obama said that "the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom."
He's right - and there, too, this state is a national leader, thanks in large part to civic activist Chris Gabrieli, who has pursued the cause indefatigably. Twenty-six schools have now adopted more learning time and another 30 hope to.
The academic results from that extra school time are encouraging. That's why the Legislature should protect funds for this promising program as it grapples with the budget crisis.
Scot Lehigh can be reached at lehigh@globe.com. 
