Please, God, give me three more years. I'll be good. Just let me live to see what Shouping Hu can possibly study about the Bright Futures scholarship program that hasn't been studied 10 times over.

Unless, of course, he's got a plan to snatch it from the greedy clutches of the Florida Legislature. That's what I'll hang on for. That's all I'm hoping for.

Maybe you don't know about Shouping Hu. He's a Florida State University professor who recently applied for a grant to see if Bright Futures can make a difference to post-secondary students' educational opportunities.

Certainly it's going to make a difference to his bank account. Did I mention that the Feds are going to pay him $780,000 and give him three years to complete his research?

Try not to think about how much $780,000 could buy for the classroom. Try not to think that all 780,000 of those greenbacks are your tax dollars at work, or that Hu's grant is one of literally thousands of federal grants awarded to study something in a college or university laboratory -- not all of it with life or death or even marginally urgent implications.

Yet, when all is said and done, I'm probably less appalled by the absurdity of the grant's dollar value in a struggling economy than I am in the idea that Bright Futures' overwhelming success should have eroded into a case study. After 14 years this scholarship program -- one of the most popular legislative initiatives of the last several decades in Florida -- should have proved itself. In fact, it has. The 2011 Legislature should not have left it shredded on the Capitol floor.

I've said all this before, forgive me for saying it again.

In the late 1980s voters approved a lottery for Florida primarily because those who sponsored the ballot initiative promised the proceeds would go to bolster education, not replace money the state held back.

It didn't happen. In fact, that broken promise was a bone that stuck in the craw of voters for 10 years -- until 1997 when Ken Pruitt, then in the House, and Don Sullivan in the Senate, crafted and sponsored Bright Futures.

Pay close attention here, Professor Hu.

Bright Futures was funded with 25 percent of the state's lottery proceeds, with an understanding that the scholarship program could grow to 50 percent without touching the lottery's payouts or administrative costs.

It paid 75 percent of tuition and fees to Florida students who maintained a B average in high school and scored 970 or better on the SAT.

It offered a glorious promise to families that previously couldn't dream of university education for their children. And it offered a golden incentive for students -- call it a promise -- that if they played by the rules, worked hard and did well, they could have a college education.

It offered the American dream.

And for the past 14 years, thousands of students have been motivated to work hard in high school in order to realize their dream of attending a Florida university. Many of Florida's best and brightest students have made the decision to stay in the Sunshine State because of Bright Futures. That was one of the goals. Trust me on that. I have very personal knowledge that the strategy worked.