Plans for Pennsylvania to develop a graduation competency exam, to ensure that students receiving a high school diploma have basic knowledge skills, have been dealt a setback by the state Department of Education. By approving a $200 million contract to develop the exams, state education officials angered Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Education Committee who feel no action on the exams should be taken until the Legislature approves the idea.

Feedback from colleges across the state that are forced to provide remedial training to high school graduates unable to perform college-level work supports the establishment of a high school graduation competency exam. Further support comes from employers who must sift through quite a few high school graduates before finding job applicants with basic math, reading, writing or science skills.

High schools that graduate students still lacking basic knowledge and skills do the students and district taxpayers a disservice. And the costs to administer remedial course work is not insignificant.

According to a report by the state Department of Education, community colleges and State System universities alone spent nearly $35 million on remedial courses in 2007-08.

But the issue of graduation competency exams is contentious, with many school districts objecting to state-imposed tests for a variety of reasons.

Many districts object to state-mandated exit exams, saying they take away local control in terms of assessing student competency. But local districts that graduate students still needing remedial work when entering college have demonstrated that they have failed in that role.

Despite the clear need for competency exams, which already are in place in states neighboring Pennsylvania, the issue still is controversial in education circles. There is ongoing debate over a statewide standard versus district-developed exams.

Gov. Ed Rendell and the state Department of Education have been advancing the idea, but officials in the administration have handled the matter badly, and from more than one perspective.

Signing a $201 million contract before lawmakers gave their stamp of approval was sure to put some lawmakers' noses out of joint.

And the timing of a $201 million contract for development of new competency tests at a time when the state is facing a $3.2 billion deficit naturally raised questions over the need to initiate such a large, seven-year contract at this time.

Then there is the issue of reinventing the wheel — does a new test have to be developed from scratch to create a good competency exam?

Some advocates of an exit exam have suggested that the existing PSSA (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment) tests, which are administered to 11th-graders, could be modified to work as a graduation competency exam.

It certainly seems worth debating whether an entire new battery of tests is needed to achieve the goal of determining basic competency for high school graduation. And for that reason, the Rendell administration's contract deal was premature and ill-advised.

Finally, the large contract to Data Recognition Corp. of Minnesota has raised suspicions of pay-to-play politics once it was learned that Data Recognition executives and board members contributed nearly $30,000 to Harrisburg officials, including $17,000 to Rendell. The company also has spent $170,000 lobbying in Harrisburg since 2006.

The issue of high school graduation exams is challenging and controversial enough. State education officials only made matters more difficult by prematurely signing the Data Recognition contract, which Republicans and Democrats in the Senate are moving to block. And the Rendell administration also raised all-too-familiar suspicions regarding pay-to-play politics in Pennsylvania by awarding a $200 million contract to a big, out-of-state campaign contributor and aggressive lobbyist.

A competency exam discussion should be about providing a better education to more young people in Pennsylvania. Instead, the education issues are being overshadowed by politics and power struggles. And that's a shame, and a waste of time and energy.