Let's take a candid look at a very important question: Are our kids ready to face the challenges of an increasingly competitive global economy? Consider the facts and draw your own conclusions.

American students score near the bottom of all industrialized nations in math and science.

In 1975, the United States was third in the world in producing new scientists and engineers. Since then we have fallen to 15th.

Most startling of all, China produces more than four times the number of engineers as the United States. Japan, with half our population, produces twice as many. The late Nobel laureate Richard Smalley predicted that by 2010, 90 percent of the world's most educated engineers will come from Asia.

Guess where the jobs in our tech-oriented world are headed if we don't take corrective action? These facts are a clarion call. If we don't better train our kids in math and science, they will be ill-equipped to compete in a world where science and technology are the coin of the realm. That's bad news for our kids and worse news for our country.

In spite of these economic alarms, Colorado is one of only six states without a comprehensive set of graduation standards. Some of Colorado's largest school districts require just two years of math and science.

Given the trends and the stakes, we believe it's time for Colorado to join the vast majority of states in setting minimum guidelines for math and science. That's why we've introduced Senate Bill 131, which would require students to pass four years of math and three years of science in order to graduate. The bill won broad bipartisan support in the Senate, and is headed for the House of Representatives.

Still, SB 131 is not at a loss for critics. Some in the education establishment dismiss the proposal as elevating "seat time" above substantive achievement. But the data refute this.

According to the Colorado Education Alignment Council, only 9 percent of kids who completed fewer than three years of math are ready for college-level work and 10 percent of students who took three or fewer years of science are ready to begin their college career. The same study showed that kids who took four years of math and three years of science are nearly five times as likely to be ready for college.

Still others criticize SB 131 for pre-empting local school districts. They argue that math and science standards will cannibalize electives like the arts and journalism. But 44 states have already figured out how to balance statewide graduation standards with other educational priorities.

Moreover, Colorado law already requires all students to complete a course in civics and U.S. history in order to graduate. And a bill that just passed the state House, supported by some of the harshest critics of our math-and-science bill, would direct local school boards to adopt detailed content standards for sex education. If it's appropriate for the state to mandate sex education content, why can't the state set broad standards for math and science? It's a matter of priorities.

While the critics of statewide math and science standards argue for more of the same, the rest of the world moves forward. At the speed of information, jobs migrate from continent to continent. Meanwhile, America's competitive advantage in science, technology and innovation is rapidly disappearing.

Other states are positioning themselves to compete in this complicated and competitive world by beefing up their math and science graduation standards. The only question now is, will Colorado?

Sen. Josh Penry is a Republican from Fruita. Rep. Rob Witwer is a Republican from Genessee.