Innovation: A Step-by-Step Solution to Improving Education This week the media was full of stories about the outrage over the severe cuts California is experiencing in public education funding sector. California currently ranks 49th out of 50 states for K-12 public school performance. Most people are understandably perplexed about how we will improve academic achievement and close the achievement gap if we continue to cut funding. A bit of a chicken and the egg dilemma. The failure of our public schools in the United States and particularly in urban areas has been a long-time rant of mine. I am convinced that an inefficient education system is the most critical long-term problem facing our country. I made education the top priority in my family's budget, and fortunately, I had the means to send my children to private school as an alternative to my real desire – for our public schools to be close to or equal to the educational experience of most private schools and many high-performing public charter schools. However, in that same time frame, I decided that I could not turn my back on the issue of public education, except for my children, for the generations that will follow, and for the well-being of our country as a whole. For more than a decade, I have invested significant time in K-12 public education reform, with a particular focus on schools in low-income communities, through my active participation in several organizations dedicated to this cause. Friends and colleagues often tell me “Why put all your effort into it? The system is broken." While I believe this is a very difficult, complex, and entrenched systemic problem with no quick fixes, I also believe that we simply need to improve it as soon as possible, and m... middle of paper... ...a society, attack and solve the biggest threats to the future well-being of this country –1) Engage great people on the problem with a passionate commitment to solving it over time2) Fund innovation to create long-term solutions, not short-term gangs- aid3) Be persistent and patient, but act with urgency4) Realize that progress happens in small steps most of the time, adding to systemic change over time 5) Experiment and adapt as we go. Hopefully we can raise the issue of education to others that seems more urgent and urgent, and in the long run is not. In the long term, if we don't fix education, all the other challenges will get worse. And, if (when) we do, everyone will get better. A country with better education is a country with fewer social challenges. “I am not discouraged, because every failed attempt is another step forward” – Thomas Edison