I respect Laura Bush and know she’s a very busy lady – especially with all these media-friendly education events she’s suddenly doing around the country. You can tell just by looking that Mrs. Bush is too decent to serve knowingly as a mere political prop, cynically deployed to reassure voters about her husband’s “compassion” or to mask the shallowness of the president’s education agenda.

That’s why someone has to get Mrs. Bush the facts – to show her how the wonderful bully pulpit work she’s doing to encourage young people to become teachers is backed by so little in the way of new policy or money that it can never begin to address America’s teacher crisis.

Once she finds out that President Bush’s teacher agenda is a sham, there’s gonna be hell to pay, because she’ll tell him. Whoever in the White House thought they could make a mockery of the Bushes’ commitment to poor children is going to rue the day!

Imagine, for example, when Mrs. Bush finds out that the No Child Left Behind Act tells states “thou shalt have a quality teacher in every classroom” by the end of the 2005-2006 school year – but offers no federal cash to make higher-talent hires possible!

Laura Bush will tell the politicos what she knows in her bones as a former teacher: that this decree from on high can’t change the facts of life in poor urban and rural districts. She knows Republicans would ordinarily recognize this as a question of market economics – the supply of good teachers who will work in awful conditions with challenging children isn’t adequate at prevailing salaries.

Mrs. Bush knows that when nearby affluent suburbs (1) pay teachers more, (2) have better working conditions and (3) serve easier-to-teach kids who bring fewer problems to school, we’re essentially relying on missionaries to bring quality instruction to poor America.

How many more years need to pass, she’ll tell the White House staff with passion, before we admit that the missionary “plan” isn’t working?

She’ll explain what she’s doubtless learned in her high-profile appearances in Arkansas and California just recently: that poor districts across the country are trying to wiggle out of the quality teacher requirement, not because they reject the goal, but because it’s so clearly an unfunded mandate. She knows that local educators aren’t proud of this: Who wants to admit that they can’t scare up enough decent teachers for the kids who need them most?

But if forced to comply and hire only teachers who pass muster under normal definitions of “qualified,” class sizes in the toughest districts could rise to 50 or more. In the triage environment of urban schools, Mrs. Bush knows that this route is almost certain to make matters worse.

Indeed, once armed with the facts, Mrs. Bush could very well change the entire direction of GOP education policy. After all, her husband has been busy fighting an endless “war.” We know that because he said so at least 20 times in the first five minutes of his recent “Meet the Press” interview. He obviously doesn’t have time to master all the details of his own education plan; he’s a big-picture guy relying on staff to get the fine print right.

Mrs. Bush, meanwhile, has all the duties of a modern first lady – she’s not some truth squad out to fact-check the viability of her husband’s agenda.

But in this critical season, with Democrats sure to come forward with serious education plans, Mrs. Bush may not want her hubby vulnerable with an education agenda that turns out to be purely symbolic.

Sure, cynical Republicans may love Bush’s current plan because its pseudo-seriousness and media appeal neutralizes the traditional advantage Democrats have enjoyed on the schools issue. And yes, its no-cost emphasis on testing and accountability doesn’t divert money from the tax cuts they want.

So Mrs. Bush will face an uphill battle against the party hacks, but if we get her the facts, I’m betting on her. After all, if she really knew the administration was playing make-believe on the issue she cares about most, she wouldn’t be complicit in the charade – would she?

Matthew Miller is a syndicated columnist and author. His Web address is: www.mattmilleronline.com.