IN TRIBUTES to the great Sen. Edward Kennedy, health care was always mentioned first as the cause of his life. But there was another cause for which his personal impact and legislative accomplishments were gargantuan: public education. One could argue that, after Brown v. Board of Education, the second most important event in American public education was the birth of Ted Kennedy. In his honor, we should remember that access to high-quality education for all remains the economic and civil-rights issue of our time.

In a tough era for Rhode Island, we have focused mainly on our deficits. Those are real, and we have our share in the area of education. State leaders have been aware of the necessary prescriptions for school reform for some time, but all too often we have watched political influence, administrative inertia and poor legal interpretation overwhelm our efforts. Not this time.

This time, there is another story — a remarkable and hopeful one — taking shape in the schools of Providence. It deserves to be told and should be a source of growing pride for all Rhode Islanders. In just the past year, thanks to the leadership of Supt. Tom Brady and our Operation Opportunity economic action plan, Providence schools are successfully implementing many of the tough but critical prescriptions we know will improve the schooling of our children.

The 2009-10 school year begins with some remarkable changes:

A new core curriculum for math and science for the entire district, K-12, lays out clear expectations for each grade to ensure that students remain on track to meet rigorous standards.

New graduation requirements that ensure college readiness. Students will take 21 credits in core subjects and complete a senior project in addition to other requirements to graduate.

College Board Advanced Placement courses in every Providence high school including AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics, AP Statistics, AP Calculus, and AP Spanish.

Every middle and high school will have teacher leaders to provide guidance and peer support to their colleague teachers in science, mathematics, social studies and English.

No more “bumping.” Enabled by the state Department of Education, our new Criterion-based Hiring System means teachers are deployed to classrooms only on the basis of what’s best for students.

A new contract that regards teachers as the professionals that they are while also being more affordable to the strapped property taxpayer.

Adding to the sense of excitement and momentum in our schools are new, state-of-the-art facilities. These are the first fruit from our city’s long-term effort, called Building a Legacy, to ensure that every Providence school child attends class in a 21st Century learning environment.

Any visitor to the new Providence Career and Technical Academy immediately recognizes that it’s one of the finest facilities of its kind anywhere. It offers professional training in nine different career areas, but it is not your father’s Voc Ed. Since virtually every field now requires highly specialized technical expertise, our young people are learning the close correlation between the ability to land a job and the need to know advanced math and science. The building itself is also a classroom, meeting rigorous green standards and with walls removed to reveal places where complex plumbing and wiring can become lessons.

We have also renovated Nathan Bishop Middle School. It’s a school steeped in history but, in many ways, it’s now a whole new place. Principal Michael Lazzareschi, formerly in charge at Martin Luther King Elementary, will begin with sixth graders. That inaugural class, which includes children from all over the city, will lead the way in redefining excellence in our middle schools.

It is a very exciting time in the Providence schools, but, obviously, there is still much to accomplish. We need to move forward on a system that effectively evaluates teachers and rewards the best. We need to build on our successful after-school work with an expanded school day and school year — what we call, “A New Day for Learning.” We must maintain our momentum and build on it in order to achieve our goals on behalf of our children.

One of the most critical next steps in that effort is to end Rhode Island’s shameful status of being the last holdout in America without a school funding formula. It’s a moral, economic and administrative disgrace — and probably a constitutional one, too. It is imperative that we extract political gamesmanship from the process of delivering resources to our children in a fair and equitable way.

Providence residents must also speak out against a wrongheaded lawsuit by the Providence Teachers Union to block the superintendent’s ability to deploy teachers where they’re best suited. It would reinstate the failed practice of bumping. Our new policy puts the needs of students first and we all need to make sure it stays in place.

The new process acknowledges teachers’ expertise and skills, placing them in settings that match them best. The hiring process appropriately requires that teachers demonstrate proficiency in a subject, strong communication skills and a commitment to the district’s college-ready/workforce-ready mission. These are basic requirements that every parent expects and deserves. The needs of the students must be matched with the skills, not the seniority, of teachers. It’s that simple.

Senator Kennedy understood that there is no social justice, that there are no equal rights and that there is no American Dream without high-quality public schools. Education is the critical platform for success in a global economy that increasingly places a premium on what we know. The Providence Schools are headed in the right direction and gaining momentum. Our future depends on how well we protect and build on those gains.