There are some existing adopt-a-school programs in Utah in which companies volunteer to read to students or assist in the classroom in other ways. And there have been some efforts by a handful of companies to make donations to schools, but no broad-based, large-scale plan has been implemented.

Rather than penalize struggling schools a la No Child Left Behind, the coalition would help those schools. Hawkes envisions a coalition of 50 companies that would identify the bottom 50 schools and provide cash donations to pay directly for the specific needs of those schools, whether it means more computers or teachers or books or higher teacher salaries.

"Private companies don't want their money going up the line to some big pot in the administration," she says. "They want to see it go for specific things. Actual cash donations would make a difference in schools that are struggling. If you got 50 companies doing this, think what could be accomplished. It could be a model for the rest of the nation."

Who knows, if this thing works, anything is possible. Utah might even catch Mississippi.

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Doug Robinson's column runs on Tuesdays. E-mail drob@desnews.com.