Support the AP program

The Columbia Falls High School administration is looking toward expanding its advanced placement program, which is a good thing.

Schools have as much a duty to serve the student population that excels as they do the special education population.

Advanced placement classes at the very least better prepare students for college. At their best, they can take the place of college entry-level college courses. The less college classes a student has to take after high school, the more affordable higher education becomes for working families.

And Columbia Falls has plenty of working families who know how to stretch a dollar.

There are still plenty of details that would need to be worked out to create a broader advanced placement program here. Money is an issue that always looms large, particularly in this era of tighter school budgets.

Hopefully an advanced placement curriculum can be accomplished with existing staff while being worked into existing schedules. Teachers seem excited about the prospect, however-it's always fun to have a class that actually wants to learn something at school.

We encourage the district in its efforts and hope it can make an advanced program work.