Gov. John Kitzhaber’s budget proposal invests heavily in helping young children escape the effects of poverty by learning to read by a crucial third-grade benchmark. It’s a noble goal that deserves significant attention.

It’s harder to support, however, his lopsided plan to leave the rest of the K-12 system with a minuscule increase. School districts have not yet recovered from the recession, with classes too big and school years too short.

We’re also concerned about the budget’s dependence on projected gains from health care, pension and prison changes that are far from secure. Even if all those savings turn out to be real and the economy continues to improve, the state needs to enhance its rainy-day fund in preparation for future inevitable economic downturns.

The governor wants to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to increase the percentage of children who can read by third grade in the expectation they will thrive later in school and in life. He proposes increased spending on preschool, day care, home visits, early literacy, full-day kindergarten and more.

While the evidence is solid that children who meet the third-grade standard do better than those who don’t, many unknowns face an initiative of this magnitude.

While touting a grand investment in education, the governor leaves the rest of K-12 shortchanged. Bend-La Pine Superintendent Ron Wilkinson said the proposed allocation would leave K-12 half a billion dollars short of sustaining current programs, which have yet to recover from recession-caused cuts. Overall, the governor’s budget is slated to increase by nearly 11 percent, while total education spending shows a 9 percent rise.

Fortunately, the governor’s budget is only a starting point for the Legislature, where competing needs can be debated with input from educators and the public.

Compromises might include a more limited rollout of the early learning project in select districts, saving resources for other needs statewide. That approach would have the added benefit of allowing educators to learn from those efforts before risking the kinds of losses the state suffered from earlier educational efforts such as CIM-CAM or the health care fiasco of Cover Oregon.