It was interesting to hear Gov. Edward Rendell of Pennsylvania kick off The Campaign for Educational Equity,'' symposium at Teachers College, Columbia University this week. Rendell didn't actually attend the conference, but his words -- captured on a live video feed -- conveyed a passion for boosting education and a commitment to education, including pre-kindergarten, that not everyone in the state shares.

Rendell likes to tout how Pennsylvania has morphed from one of the nine states in the country that failed to fund pre-kindergarten to a national leader in early childhood investment, including full day kindergarten programs. He's also clear that this comes a tough time for the state economically.

This week, Rendell proposed a $29 billion spending plan for the state that would devote more money to schools, prisons and health care for the poor but would also increase the sales tax on some goods and services. His budget relies on nearly $2.8 billion in federal stimulus money, some of which has yet to be approved by Congress.

It will be interesting to see how much continued support there will be for his education agenda while the state's fiscal difficulties are so real. Rendell has been praised for his leadership on pre-kindergarten; but can the funding continue?

Not if you ask Steve Miskin, spokesman for Pennsylvania House Minority Leader Sam Smith (R., Jefferson), who told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Rendell's "only solution [for improving education] is money, money, money. . . . There comes a time when Pennsylvanians have to say, enough is enough."