Setting up an education system that makes it possible for high school juniors and seniors to graduate with college credit or an industry-based credential by 2029 is a no-brainer. Dual enrollment is its name, and Louisiana can’t afford to wait any longer to get the program up and running.

Organizing and funding dual enrollment has been a problem up to now, but half of the high school graduating class of 2018 earned college credit for at least one course or a marketable industry credential.

The state is spending about $17 million in the current financial year for dual enrollment through the fund that finances public schools. So some groundwork has already been laid.

Gov. John Bel Edwards has been a proponent of dual enrollment, but The Advocate reported that his plan never won political traction because of costs and other challenges.

The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the state Board of Regents at a joint meeting last week voted to move ahead. Kim Hunter Reed, commissioner of higher education, calls dual enrollment “focusing on improving talent development in Louisiana.”

Reed is co-chairwoman of a 12-member task force that will make recommendations in January. Its most difficult task is to make dual enrollment available in both urban and rural parishes. Getting college classes in some rural areas will be difficult.

The regents have already endorsed a program aimed at boosting the percentage of adults ages 25-64 with a postsecondary credential from 44 percent to 60 percent by 2030. The current percentage is below the national average at a time when 56 percent of state jobs are requiring post-high school training.

Reed said of 100 ninth-graders, only 45 enter college and only 18 of those will earn a two-year or four-year degree. She said the rate for African-American students is even bleaker.

The state has about 90,000 high school juniors and seniors who would benefit from dual enrollment. The Legislature earlier this year proved it wants to do more in education by increasing funding early childhood, K-12 and higher education. All of those areas had experienced regular budget cuts or years of static funding.

Louisiana has already waited much too long to get the dual enrollment program up and running. The Legislature taking office Jan. 13 needs to make dual enrollment a higher priority because it has been established that students who earn college credit in high school do much better in college.

This editorial was written by a member of the American Press Editorial Board. Its content reflects the collaborative opinion of the Board, whose members include Crystal Stevenson, John Guidroz, Mike Jones and Jim Beam.