A group of 60 math, science and engineering professors recently issued an open letter warning that a growing number of UW freshman can’t do even middle-school math.

These are smart students. Incoming freshmen have to earn, on average, a 3.7 grade-point average just to get in the door at UW. If they aren’t coming out of high school with functional math skills, imagine how much worse off the kids who don’t graduate near the top of their classes are.

The reasons behind America’s math illiteracy are myriad, but one big contributing factor is the quantity and quality of math education kids get in public schools.

Washington has started to make halting progress to address the problem by launching an overhaul of math education and requiring students to take more math classes. But those efforts will mean little if schools don’t have enough qualified math teachers. Last year, school districts reported they had 551 vacancies for math teachers. New graduation requirements are expected to increase the deficit by 450.

The actual shortage is even greater. Many teachers who have been thrown into math classes are not qualified to teach the subject. Getting a handle on how many teachers have math credentials is essential to knowing the true extent of the teacher shortage.

The Senate budget released last week included $140,000 for a study that would attach some real numbers to the state’s math problem. The study would quantify the demand for teachers and identify strategies for filling the gap. It would do the same for science teachers, who are also in short supply.

But the budget is not a done deal yet, and money for the study could be in peril as the Senate and House negotiate spending plans. Those who oppose higher pay for teachers in high-demand subject areas such as math and science don’t welcome the study.

Face it: Differential pay is the future. Washington needs skilled teachers if its students are to get the math and science education they need to compete in the real world. Simply ramping up teacher recruiting won’t be enough.

The state’s teacher- preparation programs now have just 307 potential math teachers enrolled, about one-fifth their capacity. We need to find ways to encourage more people to become math and science teachers.

The proposed study is a first step. Lawmakers should make sure it gets done.