Even though it is still hot outside, for most Alabama children, summer is over this week. The backpacks are on, the new school clothes are still stiff and a little scratchy, buses ramble down the road for the first time, and the expectations of a new classroom and a new teacher fill children’s thoughts.

After parents and family, school is certainly the most important thing shaping the lives of the vast majority of children. The fresh start of a school year is also a time of optimism, and a chance to think about the future of every young person who is walking into that schoolhouse door.

We know that when children are successful in school, they will have better opportunities down the road. With the increase in competition from every part of the globe, it’s becoming more apparent that the education of our young people is critical for the economic future of our entire state.

It used to be that when a young person dropped out of high school, there was still a job market available to them and a good life to be had. You could go directly to the plant or begin a trade, work in an office or start a family, and still get a piece of the American dream. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, a high school dropout in Alabama would make about 50 cents for every dollar of income earned by the average college graduate.

Those days are long gone.

The income of high school dropouts has fallen dramatically in recent decades as overseas competition has increased, and the demand for better-trained workers and the need for higher education have increased. According to federal data, workers who failed to graduate from high school earned only 29 cents for every dollar that the average college educated worker received.

After making adjustments for inflation, the data show the average family income for high school dropouts declined by approximately 25 percent from 1973 to 2004, as opposed to a 17 percent increase for families with college degrees. The income difference between those with a high school diploma and some technical training and dropouts shows a widening gap as well.

Leaving school before graduating and making a decent life is no longer an option. Young people must gain a diploma and some job skills or go on to college in order to prosper.

The good news is that we have seen a steady decline in the dropout rate, and now have the lowest rate in our state’s history. More than 83 percent of Alabama students graduate high school now, as compared to only six in ten decades ago. While it may take some of those students more than four years to do so, graduating is the key, and more of our young people are doing it.

We are poised to do even better.

One of the primary reasons for students dropping out is academic problems — specifically trouble with basic skills like reading. Research shows that if a child can’t read by third grade, chances are that the child will never read. A student who cannot read cannot survive in the classroom and will walk away.

It is that impetus that moved our state to launch the Alabama Reading Initiative in 1999. Over the past decade it has grown from a handful of schools to being finally implemented everywhere in 2007. It took that much time because of fiscal constraints. We have the lowest taxes in the nation and we build programs as we can afford them.

The Reading Initiative has reinvigorated early reading teaching practices, providing common sense strategies to help struggling readers.

What we saw from the program was the nation’s largest jump in fourth grade reading scores in the nation.

That will translate into better prepared high school students, and hopefully into more graduates.

Our state needs the future to be bright for all of those students walking in through the schoolhouse doors this week. Their optimism and excitement about school can translate into better jobs for them, and better a better future for all of us.

Johnny Mack Morrow is a state representative for Franklin County. His column appears each Wednesday.