I happened to be in the Capitol Thursday and Friday. What a difference. The mood and tone of those working and milling around was a stark contrast to the gloomy days of the Huckabee administration. As is my practice, I spent a couple of hours sitting up in the House gallery watching the ledge work. What struck me was how different things were. There was not milling around as business was conducted, no groups talking in the back of the assembly and very few legislators outside the double doors talking to lobbyist. They were there, and they were working. A testament to Benny Petrus and Governor Mike Beebe.

Anew year, a new governor, a new General Assembly. It just feels right.

Gov. Mike Beebe stepped up with enthusiasm for what he called the “great undertaking of moving Arkansas forward.”

In his “State of the State” address Wednesday, Beebe hit all the right notes: “I intend to be especially involved in the most critical issues of educational advancement, economic development, the well-being of our future and meaningful tax relief.”

Those three issues are at the heart of any effort to improve conditions in the state.

Without educational advancement, there can be no long-term economic development; without economic development, permanent, noticeable tax relief is not possible, this year’s surplus notwithstanding.

Beebe proposes taking a “substantial portion” of the state’s $834 million surplus for school facilities improvement. Although he didn’t say how much “substantial” is, the cost of court-ordered improvements has been estimated at more than $250 million — perhaps “substantially” more.

But Beebe seeks to go further than what is ordered in the Lake View rulings. “Let us no longer be satisfied with the legal requirement of adequacy, but strive for the moral imperative of excellence.”

By all means, let us strive for that.