For some time now, teachers have been taking the blame for the lackluster performance of our public school students. While there are a few incompetent teachers in our schools, most are competent and dedicated. But more and more expectations are being placed upon teachers while less and less support is offered them.

While many schools meet the overall standards required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, some schools are labeled as "failing" because certain subgroups of children ---- bilingual students, or those with learning disabilities, for example ---- fail to meet test score requirements. As a result, the entire school is labeled a failure.

Oceanside schools Superintendent Ken Noonan told the North County Times, for its Aug. 24 edition, "Our job is to make sure that these children (in the 'failing' subgroups) achieve like anyone else." Noonan said that often there are issues outside the school's control, such as a different language spoken in the home or lack of money to buy reading material. And he said that these students may not score well because they were not taught well.

I disagree, based on my 23 years of experience teaching regular classes and special education. Let's start with special education, since that is one of the subgroups in which local students failed to meet federal standards. In the mid-1970s, Congress spelled out the regulations and expectations for special education students and teachers. It put laws on the books that schools must comply with, but it never has fully funded these programs.

Special education students can learn, but they learn in different ways, with different materials and methods and at different speeds. To teach these students costs money. The money must come from the state, since the federal government will not provide it. And our state budget is stretched beyond its ability to provide all our students with what they need and deserve.

Low-income families want to do the right thing for their children but often lack the money to do so. I found, when I taught in Vermont, that often poor students could not relate to lessons about the oceans because they had never been there. They had never been to a big city, so they might not understand the concept of a metropolis. In addition to help these students learn skills, I had to provide them with the background required to learn. I was expected to do this on a shoestring budget, and these students were still expected to meet the same testing standards as everyone else.

The literacy level in a low-income or bilingual student's family is another issue. Many such children cannot get help with homework at home.

Superintendent Noonan said, "We can't sit here and make excuses." Well, I don't think that the situation I have been describing is an excuse. It constitutes real stumbling blocks to children's learning. If these students are to achieve to the level that we insist, then we must first address the underlying obstacles. There are no easy answers here.

Teachers should not be assigned blame that is not theirs. We must define the real problems and find real solutions. First and foremost, we must demand that the federal government fully fund special education and No Child Left Behind Act, which have placed additional burdens on our society and our state budgets.

We must improve the literacy of our entire society, not just our children. This is too big a task for the school system to tackle alone. We need the help of all aspects of society, including the media.

Noonan said that schools will be "punished" if they do not comply with the new, under-funded, federal mandates. He is correct. Part of that punishment is losing the money that follows a student when he or she changes schools.

So schools that are not adequately funded in the first place lose more money. Schools whose students have more special needs that require more money that the school never got in the first place, lose even more. How does this help to create a higher quality educational program?

Punishment is the only thing the federal government is offering to address these problems of great magnitude ---- punishment, but no real assistance.

It's time for us, the citizens, to demand that our government put its money where its mouth is and work with the schools to improve them.

What can you do? Contact your congressmen in Washington, D.C. Demand full funding for educational programs. Elect officials who will work toward real solutions, not with words but with action. Contact your schools and ask what you can do to help. Contact the media and inform them of their responsibilities and tell them you expect their help.

Americans cannot continue down the road we are on. Unless we change it, things will get worse, not better.

Lydia Drinwater of Oceanside has a master's degree in education and taught in public schools for 23 years.