By Lane Beattie, President and CEO, Salt Lake Chamber

Some interesting messages about education were delivered on Capitol Hill this week.  The private sector is expanding its investment.  The public sector is trying to decide.  

Weber State University supporters gathered in the Capitol rotunda to announce a great new program, Dream Weber, which provides a free college education to thousands of needy students.  Dream Weber is possible because of generous donations from private citizens.  The private sector knows that investing in education translates to a great workforce, a strong economy and a healthy society. 

Meanwhile, the Legislature is measuring whether this very difficult budget year enables them to maintain our state’s investment in public and higher education.  Discussions started Tuesday about the possibility of five percent cuts for next year.  Utah’s largest statewide business association, the Salt Lake Chamber, has a clear message for elected officials: despite difficult budget times, Utah must protect our investment in public and higher education. 

An investment in education is an investment in the future. 

Utah has long held bragging rights about our well educated population. Times are changing.  Startling statistics show our young people are getting less education than their parents.  In 1992, 41 percent of 18-24 year olds had some postsecondary education.  Today, only 34 percent of people in the same age group have job training or a college education.  Among 45-64 year olds, Utah is 12^th in the nation for bachelor’s degrees, but we are 31^st among 25-34 year olds. 

Being smarter than our children may feel nice around the dinner table once in awhile, but do we really want our kids going out into the world with less smarts than we have?  Do we want them to have less earning power than we do?  

Businesses go where they find smart people. The smarter the people, the more businesses pay.  Do we want businesses going elsewhere to give high paying jobs to someone else’s children and grandchildren in other states?  In other countries? We must invest in education now or embrace that kind of a future.  

In addressing legislators this week, University of Utah President Michael Young put it another way.  “Twenty years from now, do we want to have terrific prisons and terrible universities?” President Young asked.  College and university presidents painted a picture of enrollment caps, slashed programs and research, larger classes and other preludes to mediocrity.   Salt Lake Community College President Cynthia Bioteau has described it as cutting to the bone.  These aren’t exaggerations.  Business leaders know that quality suffers when we don’t invest enough to cover the basics.

In public schools, not investing means not laying the foundation for higher education as an option.  I talked to a grandmother last week whose grandson attends a kindergarten class in the southwest valley with 53 students.  Does anyone think 53 children can learn to read from one teacher? No five year old I know would thrive in such an environment. Some children have the safety net of parents who read to them at home.  But more and more of our children don’t have that luxury. Many go home to parents who don’t speak English.  Our minority population is expanding dramatically.  By 2050, Utah’s population will consist of 30 percent minorities. We must find a way for all our children to achieve success.

We have under-invested in education for many years. The consequences are starting to show.   Only 25 percent of Utah students who take the ACT meet the benchmark score that predicts they will earn Cs in college. This means paying for remediation in college, or worse yet, never acquiring the skills they need to achieve success.

We are well aware that the Commissioner of Higher Education and the Superintendent of Public Education have agreed to budget reductions. From the business community, we ask the Legislature to do more. Our future is at stake.

The Salt Lake Chamber has organized a coalition of business leaders to build our workforce and our economy.  Our purpose is simple: Improve educational outcomes.   For a prosperous 21^st century economy, we need more and better-prepared high school graduates, more students getting postsecondary training and college degrees.  We must improve outcomes for our skyrocketing minority population.  Yes, improvements can be made in the way education is delivered. We must hold our educators accountable to innovate and improve, just as we do in business.  And businesses know that providing the resources to make things happen goes hand-in-hand with holding people accountable to generate results.

Like the private sector donors who enabled Weber State University to launch the Dream Weber free tuition program this week, the public sector must invest in education, our future workforce and our future economy. Let’s keep public and higher education whole this budget year, and think long-term about investment and innovation that will improve our educational outcomes.  Let’s make sure that Utah businesses hire our children and grandchildren, and that businesses from other states make the Utah choice as well.   

The Legislative session is a long and difficult process. Thanks to great leadership, the Utah Legislature has a great track record of managing our state budget prudently and positioning Utah for economic success. Now, more than ever, we need legislators to make the right choices for Utah’s future.