S ome days it seems that no good news is ever published about public education. Harsh criticism of public schools can leave the false impression that our schools are unsuccessful. Soon the conventional wisdom is that the gilded private school on the hill will produce better students than the neighborhood public school down the block.

But beleaguered public schools recently received a shot of adrenalin. After accounting for students’ race, income and social backgrounds, a study by the U.S. Department of Education finds that students in public schools perform just as well or better than their private school peers.

The study compared math and reading scores among fourth- and eighth-graders from public schools and private schools. In fourth-grade math, public school students did considerably better than their private school counterparts. And in fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math, the study found that differences in achievement between public school and private school students “was near zero and not significant.” The private school mystique was shattered in every category except for eighth-grade reading.

The study was conducted by the Educational Testing Service, the world’s largest private educational testing organization, and commissioned by the National Center for Education Statistics, part of the department’s research arm.

By any reasonable measure, this is good news. So where are the news conferences? The pundits armed with talking points? The glowing statements from the Department of Education on the success of our nation’s public schools?

There are none, because the federal department charged with advancing the nation’s education agenda chose to release this study with no comment on a summer Friday when it was guaranteed to receive little news coverage. Why would they try so hard to bury a report that gives public schools a much-deserved boost – the schools that 90 percent of American children attend?

The answer was delivered on July 18 when the secretary of education went to Capitol Hill to announce a $100 million, federally funded school voucher program so students in struggling public schools can attend private schools at public expense. The private school model, the reasoning goes, is better and more effective, and can achieve superior results.

But the department’s own study challenges this assumption and undercuts its rationale for vouchers. When researchers adjust test scores for the factors associated with student differences – socio-economic status, ethnicity, parents’ educational backgrounds – the private school advantage practically disappears.

There is nothing magical that makes private schools better. You could hardly tell it, however, in the din of the debate, which is dominated by ideologues, intellectuals and politicians who have abandoned public education. Shared responsibility and mutual respect will produce results that will help public school students succeed.

Lawmakers can help students in underperforming schools by adequately funding those schools. The so-called No Child Left Behind Act is underfunded by $40 billion. Congress last year cut funding by an additional $1 billion, and now the 2007 fiscal year spending bill reported by the House Appropriations Committee would cut $500 million more.

In addition to these shortfalls, programs to help public schools have been grossly neglected. For example, school improvement grants created under No Child Left Behind have never been funded. These grants would help schools address their shortcomings if they have failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress for at least two years.

One study is unlikely to settle a long-simmering debate over the merits of public versus private schools. Yet before the secretary of education sends $100 million of taxpayer money to private schools, she should publicize the results of her department’s own research so citizens can see exactly what they are buying: not the private school myth, but the reality.