Two education proposals making their way through the Legislature get failing grades with us.

The first involves a ban on ads in schools.

The proposal, described as the most sweeping in the country, would prohibit everything from scoreboard ads to book covers plastered with product logos to news broadcasts in classrooms and music broadcasts on school buses which carry advertising. Virtually the only marketing allowed would be logos that are part of the packaging of a product; a can of Coke could still carry the Coke logo.

The legislation is backed by the children's advocacy group Commercial Alert, which wants schools to be "a haven" from advertising.

In particular, the bill targets Channel One, a daily public affairs program shown in 300,000 classroom nationwide, and Bus Radio, a satellite radio company that brings music and about eight minutes of commercials an hour to 1,000 school buses in 11 states. While some school districts have barred Channel One, Bus Radio and other forms or marketing, Massachusetts would be the first to create a statewide ban under the bill. That type of ban scares us. Besides the free speech issues, banning ads would further reduce local control of education and eliminate a potential source of revenue for cash-starved communities.

In addition, we're extremely skeptical that the ban would achieve anything. Aren't children already assaulted with commercial messages? Wouldn't it be wiser to teach them to distinguish between ads and unbiased information? Is this just another example of parents trying to bubblewrap their children from the outside world?

We hope the Legislature agrees and dismisses this proposal.

Similarly, we hope lawmakers shoot down a proposal ending the requirement to have all high school students to pass tests in English and math before they can graduate.

A proposal outlined this week would allow students to offset low test scores with portfolios of their classroom work, including report cards, term papers or science projects. Similar proposals have been quickly shot down in the past, but this plan was given life when Gov. Deval Patrick said he would consider alternatives to the graduation requirement.

We believe that's a bad idea.

The graduation requirement is a key to MCAS, the tests formally known as the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. The tests demand accountability of both students and school districts, something that was seriously lacking when the Legislature approved education reform in 1993.

We believe MCAS has been a success. In 2001, only 68 percent of sophomores who took the test for the first time passed. Now, after retests, 95 percent of students pass. The MCAS has forced schools to focus on students who may have been neglected in the past. It no longer allows schools to promote and give diplomas to students without merit.

As one legislator testified this week, the state would be stepping back to 1993 - when school districts statewide had a wide range of standards for graduation - if MCAS is watered down. Taxpayers, who have poured billions of additional dollars into public education since 1993, have the right to demand that a diploma in each school district meets a minimum standard. The only way to do that is with MCAS.

The state should stick to its guns and keep the graduation test requirement.