Like him or hate him, the head of the state’s powerful teacher union, Paul Hubbert, is right when he says Alabama needs a more stable funding source for education.

So what else is new? Alabama has been dancing the education two step for years — one step forward, two steps back — every time there is a downturn in the economy.

That’s what happens when officials tie the bulk of funding to taxes that are subject to peaks and valleys, like sales tax. Property tax is a more stable source, but there is a negative knee jerk reaction guaranteed whenever the subject is raised, let alone the taxes.

Truth is, Alabama continues to have the cheapest property tax in the nation. And much needed programs, like the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative can’t even get the funding it needs to help move state students forward because the funds aren’t there.

Explain to students struggling through Math and Science or who cannot get access to a computer that the culprit is the downturn in the economy and not the people who refuse to invest in our children’s future.

Having a hard time making that argument? It should come as no surprise. It just doesn’t add up against the backdrop of the needs in classrooms around this state.

There should be no difference in a classroom in Mountain Brook and a classroom in the Black Belt, but there is. And the most significant difference is the investment made in education.

Ten times over the past 30 years — one third of the time — Alabama schools have suffered under proration. And budget cuts do not bode well for Alabama’s students.

While the issue of reforming Alabama’s tax system to provide adequate and stable funding for the state’s school will likely come up again in the next legislative session, it will not be successful until a majority of the leaders in this state step forward to make it so.

Let’s hope they will for the sake of Alabama’s children.