by David Safier
(TASL) I’m reviving my TASL logo for today’s educational shorts, because they’re about education, the economy and tax dollars.
- When CNBC ran a piece on the Top States for Business, Arizona came in #12, which isn’t bad,though last year we were at #10, so we slipped a bit. The state scored best in the categories of Workforce, Economy and Business Friendliness — the only places where we’re in the top 10. Our worst score is — drum roll, please — Education, where we’re ranked 43rd.
There’s an obvious connection between good schools and attracting business to the state, which brings in more money, jobs and tax revenue. Well educated students are more attractive to employers. Bad schools scare off prospective businesses and the professionals who work for them. So our overcrowded, underfunded classrooms chase away businesses, which hurts the economy. Good education costs money, but it brings in jobs and money. Those people always looking at the bottom line should realize the dollars we put into schools come back to us in many, many ways.
(As a side note, the state’s biggest drop in rankings from 2007 to 2008 was in Transportation, where we fell from 6th to 25th. The ranking is based mainly on the availability of air travel and the quality of our roads. Is scrimping on infrastructure costs like road and highway repair hurting our attractiveness to business as well?)
- NPR ran a feature about how poor state economies are causing cuts in educational funding nationwide. Brilliant. Just when we need an educated populace to get our economy back on track, we cut back on education. A colleague used to call that “eating your seed corn.” I can’t think of a more apt comparison.
Interestingly, Arizona got credit for bucking the trend and giving education a 2% increase, though the story pointed out that the legislature had no choice: “voters passed an initiative in 2000 that requires funding to keep pace with inflation each year.” Voters get a pat on the back for that one.
- Finishing on a bright note, according to a Citizen editorial, qualified freshmen at Sunnyside and Desert View high schools will get free laptops. That’s somewhere between 650 and 800 students who were chosen, I assume, because of low family incomes.
Computers are no longer luxuries. Any young person who can’t speak Computer-as-a-second-language is at a serious disadvantage in school and in the workplace. Families that can’t afford a computer for their homes can handicap their children for the rest of their lives.
Another wonderful part of this program is that it’s jointly funded by private interests (Home builder D.R. Horton, Cox Communications and Wells Fargo) and the Sunnyside Foundation. Whatever the reasons for their generosity, these companies will benefit along with the rest of us if the program works. And if it does, then it’s time to fund similar programs in other school districts. If we can get the private sector to help, great, but if not, the state needs to step up and provide the funds.
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