In an ideal world, every student would learn from competent teachers. Uncle Sam has tried to legislate that ideal by requiring that public school teachers meet higher standards to earn credentials, and thus become ``highly qualified'' by 2005-06.

But the No Child Left Behind law leaves many details unattended. It demands that teachers be credentialed, but doesn't say what to do when there simply aren't enough of them -- which there aren't, and won't be anytime soon, in California.

The law was signed in January 2002, but the feds have been slow to provide states with guidelines on the new standards. Compounding the problem in California, a fragmented education bureaucracy at the state level has made it difficult for teachers and school districts to figure out what to do.

State officials need to let new and experienced teachers know what's expected of them. That means clarifying requirements and drawing up the exams and reviews needed to credential and re-certify teachers.

However, both the government and public need to accept that not all teachers will be fully credentialed by 2005.

The laws of people don't easily change the laws of economics. Without an infusion of money and incentives, California is expected to be short 65,000 qualified teachers in 10 years, despite layoffs caused by the recession. And since the state budget crisis hit, many plans to offer such incentives have been abandoned.

This law was imposed last fall on schools receiving poverty funds. Those schools aren't supposed to be employing teachers who aren't fully credentialed. But reality intervenes. Schools with low-income families often have the highest ratios of uncredentialed teachers. And alternatives to keeping those less-than-perfect instructors are even worse: cramming several classes together, or simply hiring daily substitutes. Countless children will be left behind under those scenarios.

So far, fortunately, the feds have been granting waivers.

The goals of the No Child Left Behind Act are laudable. They're prodding California to ensure that the trigonometry teacher majored in math and that the econ teacher passed a social science exam.

But the timelines ignore reality. Schools employ non-credentialed teachers because they can't find enough credentialed ones. Setting higher standards won't magically change that.