In perhaps a last-ditch effort to place a Band-Aid on the disaster of No Child Left Behind, President Bush wants to spend $136 billion on training science and math teachers and encouraging businesses to engage in more research and development.

His idea is part of an initiative to boost America's standing in the international competition of innovation and scientific research. The price covers 10 years worth of expense and includes plans to offer tax credits to businesses that engage in such innovation.

For the sake of emphasis, here's that price tag one more time: $136 billion.

First of all, the idea to spend so much money on the training of science and math teachers begs one question: Then what the heck is college for?

Higher education has filled that void for some time, and spending taxpayer dollars to further train already qualified teachers is a waste of time and money, to say the least.

Secondly, economic competition - national, international or otherwise - is not the responsibility of the government unless something is seriously wrong.

While America is no doubt behind in science and math when compared to some other countries, tax credits are hardly a solution to this problem.

Cliché as it sounds, there are better ways to spend this money.

If President Bush wants to improve education, then perhaps he should check out the inner city schools that are so poorly funded they don't have basic school supplies. That $136 billion would go a long way at schools like that.

But this is a president who hardly bats an eye while his country spends billions and billions of dollars fighting a war with no end in sight. Why would we expect him to flinch at another $136 billion?

Meanwhile, all the Democrats can do is whine about Bush's plan to cut funding for arts education, parent-resource centers and drug-free schools.

Luckily, Bush's proposal cannot go anywhere without having the approval of Congress first.

When it comes time to vote on this, U.S. senators should look at reality and realize $136 billion is too much money to ignore.