The decades-long drive for fundamental improvements in the performance of public schools may be an irresistible force, but where new resources are required, it's running into the immovable objects of a bad economy and terrible fiscal conditions for Washington, states, and school boards. President Bush's emphasis on tax cuts also means that the federal government is unable to allocate substantial new resources for education to help with the No Child Left Behind Act or new initiatives.

At the state level, certainly no governor east of California has felt the fiscal crunch more than Virginia's Mark Warner. Even before the economy went south, Warner inherited an enormous budget problem from his Republican predecessor who rolled a fiscal hand grenade through the office door on his way out. But despite the budget challenges, retooling Virginia's education system to prepare its citizens for the demands of the information age was a big part of Warner's agenda upon taking office.

Warner has succeeded admirably in getting the budget under control, and he did it without cutting resources for education. The Republican-controlled legislature needs to do more to finance quality education, but in the meantime Warner is putting forward a promising reform agenda that relies more on innovation than dollars. Called "Education For a Lifetime," Warner's new education agenda has the following major elements:

• Efficiency and performance reviews by state auditors and managers to help schools find ways to save money and use existing funds more efficiently;
• A "Project Graduation" to help students at risk of flunking the state's new requirements for high school graduation, which kick in next year;
• A "Senior Year Plus" that lets high school seniors take college level courses and earn up to a semester of college credit, saving their families significant tuition costs and expanding access to challenging classes;
• Mentoring for new teachers, particularly in hard-to-staff schools serving disadvantaged students;
• Appointing excellent teachers as "turnaround specialists" to help low-performing schools improve;
• Improving college graduation rates through incentives for colleges to focus graduating more students prepared to work in Virginia's growing economy; and
• Streamlining and eliminating overlapping workforce development programs.

Warner, who also now chairs the Education Commission of the States, calls these measures "small, targeted reforms," but they complement ongoing state reforms and much of what Virginia is doing under No Child Left Behind. Warner insists school reform must become a constant process of changes that can contribute to revolutionary improvements. "If we are going to move Virginia forward in this time of fiscal stress and rapid technological change, we must be smarter than our competitors. And everyday, we must insist on accountability, and we must be able to measure our results."

Other states should give Warner's initiatives a close look. Under his leadership Virginia is emerging as a model for the nation in public education, and he is demonstrating that a lack of money should not become an excuse for a lack of effort or imagination. Ground lost now can be unrecoverable for the children affected, and progress made against the grain can be priceless.