Chamber Takes a Stand.

THE ARKANSAS STATE CHAMBER of Commerce and Associated Industries of Arkansas did the right thing in supporting a court decision that declared the state's education system inadequate and inequitable.

The position paper by the chamber is justifiably critical of the current public education system

Ron Russell, president & CEO of the business organization, said its members "see this as both an opportunity and a challenge. Since the business community is the recipient of the end product of our educational system, it certainly should have a seat at the table as solutions are sought."

Business surely needs a voice. Business opportunities have slipped away because of the state's under-educated. workforce, forcing the business community to become more active in educational issues.

Unless this state wants to maintain its bragging rights to being ranked at the bottom of nearly every educational measure, it's time to make some sweeping changes. Since our government (still) hasn't had the political will to do what it knows it should, educational changes have (again) been forced on us by a court. In the Lake View School District case, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Collins Kilgore said the current educational system in Arkansas is not giving its public schools enough money and the funds were not being handed out fairly.

The state has appealed that May 25 decision to the Arkansas Supreme Court, although it seems highly unlikely any reasonable consideration of the evidence could lead to any other conclusion than Kilgore's.

The chamber's position paper was short on specifics about what we need to do in the future, but it was very clear about what's wrong with the way we've always done things.

"We are all too familiar with the consequences of low academic performance -- under-educated and underemployed workforce, low per capita earning potential, greater health-care costs, fewer economic development opportunities and a lower overall quality of life," the paper said.

The current environment "creates enormous challenges for creating new jobs, diversifying our economy and broadening our state's tax base." The chamber "can no longer stand by and support a system that produces these results."

Business certainly can blame itself for a goodly portion of Arkansas' poor educational performance. And the chamber points out business' shameful past.

"For many years, Arkansas promoted itself as a state with low-wage workers," the paper said. "We believed that promoting our low wages was the key to recruiting manufacturing interests. However, with the advancement of technology, and the demand for a skilled and well-educated workforce, Arkansas is quite simply struggling to maintain current business interests and attract new business. Our state is finding it more and more difficult to compete in the new global society."

How true. And how telling. We -- and our children -- are now paying the price for trying to be the cheapest rather than the best. In an increasingly affluent society, competing on price to the detriment of quality is a hopelessly outdated business plan.

The test for the chamber, and all Arkansans, will come after the Supreme Court rules and the General Assembly meets to consider remedies.

We applaud the chamber for taking the right stand now. We hope to be able to praise the business community when the enormous changes that must be made become fully known and business stands in the forefront of that change for progress.