Education--two perspectives: business and labor both have a stake in the success of our educational system. Two leaders share more thoughts with the Detroiter.

The CEO Perspective: We Can't Afford to Fall Behind

By Anthony F. Earley Jr., Chairman and CEO--DTE Energy

Nothing will influence Michigan's future business success more than the quality of its workforce. As a result, it is essential that Michigan students receive an education today that will shape them as leaders and employees, equipped with the skills and knowledge they will need to help our businesses compete in tomorrow's global economy.

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Attracting and retaining top employees is a priority for most businesses. Education will be paramount in the years ahead, as job requirements become more rigorous and demand grows for more highly skilled, well-educated workers with a solid foundation in math and science. Unfortunately, unless dramatic changes take place, a great many of the young people in our community will not possess these skills or the education necessary to be part of tomorrow's economy.

A recent report issued by United Way for Southeastern Michigan on social issues confronting our region noted that "levels of educational attainment are not keeping pace with the growth in knowledge-based jobs: Metro Detroit ranked 17th of the top 20 metro areas nationwide in percent of college graduates ... an agenda for change must address both the growing need in our community and the changing demand for high-skilled jobs."

United Way targeted "Educational Preparedness" as vital to the region's long-term success and identified three critical outcomes for improvement--ensuring children entering school are ready to learn; making certain they are reading at grade level; and keeping them from dropping out.

One organization, One D: Transforming Regional Detroit, an alliance of six major civic and business organizations, has stepped up to the plate and adopted Educational Preparedness as one of its six priorities for transforming our region. One D organizations, including the Detroit Regional Chamber, will work together to pursue the objectives United Way has set forth for education. They'll be looking to all of us in the business community to support and contribute to this important initiative.

In the meantime, whether you're a Fortune 500 company or a smaller organization, there are numerous opportunities to invest in education. Many organizations have embraced innovative programs in our community that already are making great strides in improving educational opportunities for students. Even more could be accomplished with additional support.

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Through the DTE Energy Foundation, DTE Energy is playing a part in shaping tomorrow's workforce. We support successful education programs like Cornerstone Schools and Loyola Academy that promote academic achievement in stressed neighborhoods, as well as programs that enrich math and science curricula like those developed by Communities In Schools of Detroit. We also support higher education by funding business, science and engineering programs and scholarships at Michigan colleges and universities.

By investing in education, businesses can help bring about the changes needed to ensure students are ready for the work world of tomorrow. The return is a more highly skilled workforce, a more vibrant business environment and a better quality of life in Southeastern Michigan. It's a smart investment, and bottom line, it's smart business.

The Labor Perspective: Don't Cut Spending for Schools

By Mark Gaffney, President--Michigan AFL-CIO 

When organized labor in Michigan considers education, we think about the classroom teachers who hold so much responsibility for both individual students and for our state's future workforce.

Many of our teachers today provide for classroom materials out of their own pockets because declining budgets restrict supplies. Some of our teachers, too many, have seen classroom sizes increase the past few years. These teachers know a quality education is harder to give and get if classrooms are at 30 students or more rather than closer to 25. Our teachers also deal more and more with children who inevitably bring family problems with them to school, including younger students with an unreadiness to learn.

Now our state's politicians are discussing cuts in funding to schools. It is predicted that 20 percent of Michigan's school district's budgets will be pushed into the red in 2007 if the legislature enacts cuts in the per pupil state allotment. Task No. 1 for Michigan businesses, unions and citizens is to work together to provide adequate and equal funding to all of Michigan's K-12 schools so that teachers and students can go about getting a solid basic education.

A recent study by Roberts T. Jones entitled "Michigan: The No. Quality Workforce in the Nation?" suggested that over 80 percent of Michigan's current new jobs require education and training beyond high school. Our worldwide position of educated preparedness is at risk.

Thirty years ago, the United States had almost a third of the world's college graduates as residents. Today, the U.S. share has fallen to 14 percent. Yet our state's colleges and universities face the same budget squeeze of rising costs and diminished levels of state support that K-12 faces.

State support for higher education has been reduced by 30 percent over the last 25 years. Tuition increases can only make up some of the difference. We certainly don't want to price students from middle-income families out of the higher education market. We need their increasing participation to better our overall graduation rates. Task No. 2 for Michigan is to provide and fund higher education in a manner that our population's rate of college graduates increases so that we are no longer below the national average.

Our educational infrastructure is sound. While we probably have too many K-12 school districts for optimum efficiency, and while there is still too much inequality among districts at the schoolroom level, all of Michigan's children have access. Our state also has a very good community college system. Our two-year colleges are more affordable and more accessible yet high in quality. Many Michigan businesses are well aware of the partnering opportunities for specific worker training programs at local community colleges. This system should be expanded by the state and nurtured by Michigan businesses.

We are also home to some of the world's best occupation-specific education and training systems in the unionized building and construction trade programs. These two- to five-year apprentice programs provide classroom and on-the-job learning as a basis for some of the best careers in our state.

Finally, the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth gets better and better at assisting both incumbent and laid-off workers to get further education and retraining, a critical challenge for our education systems. These workers need more specific training and they need it quickly. This is clearly a future opportunity for labor and management and education systems to work together.

Task No. 3 then is to expand cooperation among unions, businesses, community colleges, job re-training programs and other opportunities, that exist for specific occupations and displaced workers to make sure individual's needs are met. These three tasks are obtainable and critical to educating our state's current and future workforce.

If You Care About Education, Watch Channel 7 at 8 p.m. on April 19.

The DTE Energy Foundation, Channel 7 and the Detroit Regional Chamber will present a live town hall meeting examining the role education plays in the 21st century economy.

This show will further the education discussion from the 2006 Mackinac Policy Conference.

If you are interested in being in the live studio audience, contact Jon Kreger at 313-596-0414 or [e-mail].

See page 40 for more details.