Good, but not good enough to accomplish what it intends.

That’s our opinion of LD 1040, House Speaker Glenn Cummings’ bill to make the preparation of a college application a mandatory graduation requirement for all Maine high school seniors. It would mandate the completion of the application, not its submission, as an important real-life lesson.

A public hearing on LD 1040 is scheduled for 1 p.m. today before the Legislature’s Education Committee.

Cummings sees this bill as an efficient method of boosting Maine’s percentage of college-educated residents, the lowest in New England, by putting completed applications into the hands of high school students who otherwise may feel higher education – of any kind – is hopelessly out-of-reach.

LD 1040 is based on an initiative at Poland Regional High School, which has mandated the submission of college applications for graduating seniors since 2004. Its effect has been fair and middling, as the percentages of students planning to attend college before, and after, the policy was enacted were basically unchanged.

Cummings has said the number of Poland students attending college more than doubled with the policy. The speaker is a tad ebullient – the application policy was just one of the college-preparedness initiatives Poland instituted – but his praise isn’t misplaced. The policy is thoughtful, and quite innovative.

Spreading it across Maine, however, will take more than copycatting Poland’s program, which was funded, in part, though a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. By stopping short of making application submission compulsory, the bill seems to be a half-measure long on promise that could be short on actual impact.

The speaker wishes to have students picture themselves receiving higher education, which is a noble ideal, especially for a former high school teacher who knows, first hand, the perils of the process. While college isn’t for every student, it could be for many more, if just given the basic chance.

Or, as supporters also argue, the simple act of applying is a valuable exercise prior to entering the “real world.”

Which is why LD 1040 is an idea deserving of serious scrutiny and consideration. There’s no harm, as Poland high schoolers have proved, in pushing seniors by making the application to college a graduation requirement.

But there has been little measurable benefit, as well. Poland students haven’t aspired to higher education at a greater rate, indicating fundamental barriers to higher education still exist. Initiatives to break down these walls are needed, and the speaker’s decision to capitalize on one school’s creative approach is laudable.

Making this program fit statewide, without becoming an expensive and burdensome unfunded mandate, will take some work. But its goals – increasing the aspirations of Maine high schoolers, and rising the number of Maine residents with a higher education – make it worth the old college try.