Later this month, state school accountability test scores will be released for school districts across Mississippi.

The stakes are increasingly high for districts such as the Natchez-Adams School District that have a recent history of earning failing grades on the tests.

A law passed earlier this year ratchets up the potential consequences for failing districts.

If a district fails two out of three years, the new law allows the Mississippi Department of Education to effectively take over the leadership of the local district.

Although this month’s test results alone cannot mandate the state take over the Natchez-Adams School District, over time the tests will matter more and more for the district’s future.

The state can, however, take over a district if other factors exist.

We hope and expect the district’s results this year will show improvement which would be welcome and expected after the hard work district leaders, administrators, teachers and students have put over the past year.

If, however, the scores continue to show failure to achieve state accountability success levels, we urge the district’s leadership to quickly work to build a plan to improve.

Our public schools are far too important to our area’s future to simply continue to wish and hope results improve.

The district needs a solid plan and top-notch implementation to turn the ship from failure to excellence.