As lawmakers work on finalizing spending bills, the creation of a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics center at the University of Northern Iowa remains in question.

The center would mentor and train teaching students and offer real-world learning opportunities in the private sector. STEM officials also would recruit students into the teaching field. This would increase the number of teachers, who in turn would inspire students in the math and science fields.

The $5 million proposal is not yet part of the spending plan by legislative Democrats.

We hope that our lawmakers with foresight can make this proposal a higher priority.

Many state and national leaders are worried about the condition of our education systems when it comes to preparing students in the math and sciences areas.

Count UNI President Ben Allen among them. He said the factors that prompted the need for the program -- a teacher shortage, a growing math and science economy, and declining student test scores -- will only get worse if nothing is done.

"The pipeline of people coming into the profession of teaching math and science is not very large," Allen said last month.

There are about 100 physics teachers ready to retire across the state, but only 14 such teaching students who will graduate from state universities this year.

The shortage for Iowa is real, but the problem also is severe nationally.

"We are already seeing signs of not necessarily failure, but of falling behind internationally," said Jeff Weld, an associate biology professor at UNI. "Our test scores in math and science are, it would be kind to say, dismal compared to some other nations' scores."

Major U.S. companies are outsourcing engineering positions. American students aren't posting satisfactory scores on standardized math and science tests.

"More than 50 percent of the computer and electrical engineers in Silicon Valley are nonresidents," Allen said in an interview last year. "IBM is investing billions and billions of dollars in India."

We know we are falling behind other countries in producing the engineers needed in today's global workforce and economy. We understand that teachers who prepare students in math, science and technology are at a premium. This information is useless if we decide to do nothing with it.

Lawmakers need to look at the big picture. Funding the STEM center at UNI is an opportunity to begin addressing this festering problem.