THERE was a lot of talk this summer about what Martin Luther King Jr. would think of the state of things today-if he’d lived 50 years after his “I Have a Dream” speech. What would he have thought about race relations in 2013? A black president and commander-in-chief? The culture in general?

There’s no telling. He might be proud as punch. Or he might just want to punch something. Here’s an easier one: What would he think of education in this country? That’s an easy question because you can answer it yourself. Like many of the rest of us, schools aren’t doing the job when it comes to educating the next generation(s). Education and educators, not to mention many mothers and fathers, are leaving children behind, despite the name of the act passed during the last administration. And many of those left behind are poor and black.

George W. Bush called it the soft bigotry of low expectations. (Miss him yet?) If more kids are going to have better futures, if they are going to find their way out of poverty, if they are going to lead healthier, happier, more fulfilling lives, then something has to improve in public education.

Which is why so many of us in Arkansas are smiling after this month’s news.

THE STORY may have been overlooked in the rush of the day’s events because it was about test scores and education and Advanced Placement and the like. But these stories were important. Super important. The-sports-section-can-wait-five-minutes important.

The number of kids taking Advanced Placement classes, and scoring well on those AP exams, and earning college credit for high scores, is skyrocketing in Arkansas. Thanks to a few good citizens with more than a few dollars to spend.

Our lady on the education beat, Cynthia Howell, reports that the state’s Advanced Initiative for Math and Science-which has 38 participating schools in Arkansas-gave out $339,800 this month to thousands of kids who made at least a 3 in these AP exams in math, science and English last year.

Yes, the kids are getting money for good test scores. A hundred bucks a pop for each. It’s amazing how money motivates, no? There are probably a lot of grown-ups who go to work every day who are motivated by it, too. It’s been said that money doesn’t motivate teachers, and that pay-for-performance can’t work in the public schools. But aren’t teachers human, just like these kids? Ah, well, that’s another editorial/ rant.

For now, let’s just thank the folks at Exxon Mobil and the Walton Family Foundation for starting and maintaining this program. It’s as if they recognize that kids, or maybe homo sapiens in general, understand the value of money, and will work to get it.

Where have we heard about paying kids to take AP classes before? Ah, yes, the Murphy Oil folks in El Dorado. They’ve had a similar rewards program going for years, and for more money, too. For the best scores, the Murphy Education Program hands out $500. Murphy Oil also gives out incentives to kids for SAT scores, and to teachers when their students perform well, not to mention college scholarships for students who graduate from El Dorado’s schools.

GOSH, if we could only attract more Walton Family Foundations, Exxons and Murphy Oils to more places in Arkansas, maybe three per county . . . . But as we were digging through the numbers in the story, and wishing that Arkansas had an unlimited supply of foundations that took an interest in education, something stood out. Like a light in a dark room.

Not only are kids being rewarded for taking hard classes.

Not only are more and more kids taking these classes every year.

Not only are students getting free tutoring on Saturdays and attending testprep sessions to improve their scores . . . .

But look.

At the scores.

Of black and Hispanic kids.

The number of those kids taking, and passing, these AP tests increased by more than 37 percent last year. And they’re doing super on the tests.

Or as Tommie Sue Anthony, she of the Advanced Initiative, so happily put it: “Because of those … schools and what they have done, and what they have done for Arkansas, this year Arkansas is ranked No. 1 in the country-we outperformed every other state-in the percentage of increase of scores for African American and Hispanic students. We are very proud of that.”

And should be.

This is all great news.

Imagine that. Money motivates.

So do good people with deep pockets who know what they’re doing.

Thanks, y’all. You folks are another reason to be proud of Arkansas today.

Editorial, Pages 12 on 09/24/2013