EDITORIAL: Literacy Key Ingredient Of La.'s Future
The Town Talk (excerpt)

Building a better Louisiana demands that we leave no one behind.

We've begun by providing more access to pre-kindergarten programs, improving the basic high school curriculum and making teacher pay competitive. Each of those steps, in time, will help young people and the state. The state also has placed greater emphasis on training for people who -- by age, circumstance or choice -- are no longer in school and cannot compete effectively for employment. They need opportunities to sharpen their skills and learn new ones.

Most challenging among all Louisiana residents are those who cannot read. Illiteracy puts a devastating drag on an individual and a community. This is an especially tough problem in Louisiana, which always has been among the nation's least literate rates.

The National Adult Literacy Survey shows that 25 percent of U.S. adults read at the lowest functional level. That means they can read their name and some simple street signs, for example, but cannot fill out basic forms, such as a job application.

In New Orleans that figure is as high as 44 percent, according to the survey. Parts of Central Louisiana have illiteracy rates just as high and higher.