Perhaps we here at Bearing Drift are being too hard — or perhaps skeptical — of His Excellency when it comes to K-12 education reform. Given our past experiences with just about everything the governor has done, combined with his reputation as a schmoozer, it’s reasonable to assume that when McAuliffe talks about any sort of reform, wallets across Virginia tremble in fear.
Of course, this is a problem that effects us all — from taxes to localities to business rankings right down to a sound environment in our classrooms. The opportunities for waste in the current system are incredible. The lack of accountability even worse, as “accountability” is often code for “we can cut your budget” rather than an honest reappopriation of funds in some sort of partnership where all players are honestly trying to improve the system.
Unicorns aside, most folks know what the game is. Local school boards fudge the numbers, state budgets are in limbo, local property and real estate taxes skyrocket, teachers are underpaid, administrators are overpaid to meet a bevy of unfunded and partially funded mandates few in Richmond care about, etc. Meanwhile, Virginia continues to take a 19th century process and apply 20th century tools while expecting a 21st century product — which is absurd.
So when the governor comes to talk about sweeping K-12 reforms, one has to hope — perhaps beyond hope — that we’re going to get a taste of something radical, comprehensive, and solutions-oriented that gets Richmond back in the game:
Throughout his remarks, McAuliffe talked about how the importance of funding and improving K-12 education can benefit what he frequently calls the “new Virginia economy.”
“Well, I constantly talk about how we need to build the new Virginia economy, we need to diversity our economy, bring in more jobs,” he said prior to his speech. “You cannot do that without workforce development, and you can’t do workforce development without a great education system.”
Beat still, my heart!
Quick quiz: what’s the #1 indicator that mid-level and large businesses use to determine location? Infrastructure, to be sure. Low taxes? Perhaps… but the correct answer? Two-year educations, believe it or not.
It makes sense when you think about it. Most jobs do not require a full four year education in the liberal arts to perform the task. For students, it’s not a bad deal either, as two-year educations might spend four years getting their associates before moving on to a four year institution — great news for the students who don’t want to be stuck making $15/hour the rest of their lives, but even better news for mid-level businesses where that turnover means they can continue to pay competitive wages. Turnover, at times, is good.
The grand solution?
(1) Every Virginian deserves a quality education, and that education should come from Richmond. It’s a constitutional mandate, and the Commonwealth ought to be picking up the lion’s share rather than forcing it on the backs of localities. Virginia ought to take the Local Composite Index (LCI) and use that as a ceiling for local contributions, allowing localities to lower taxes while asking Virginia to pick up the tab. Net impact to the taxpayer? If you’re on a fixed income, a pension, or a farmer? This is a tremendous tax cut and relief sent by God Himself (or at least, Mammon). For the average Virginia taxpayer that is not a property owner? It will indeed be an increase… but it allows every Virginian to have skin in the game when it comes to K-12 education funding. On the balance, the net effect should bend beyond neutral to a tax cut, because it will eliminate leaning on regressive forms of taxation (real estate and property) in favor of perhaps something more equitable (income).
(2) If you get a 3.0 GPA, Virginia should foot the bill for your associates program. Socialism, right? Not so fast… about 75% of all 9th grade freshmen will actually graduate from high school — a sobering if generalized statistic. Of that, approximately half will go on to a post-secondary program. Of that… approximately half will actually graduate from a four-year institution, leaving anywhere form 17-25% of potential on the cutting room floor.
The reasons for this are legion: the first semester is expensive until the grants and loans come in, the cost of books is tremendous, and jobs willing to accommodate are few. What if, however, Virginia were willing to invest in a program where those who have the intelligence but not the resources could attend a two-year institution? What if those scholarships were fed directly into the Virginia Community College System (VCCS)? What if one had to offer some sort of public service in exchange for the scholarship, say for any number of Virginia’s outstanding non-profit organizations? What sort of signal would this send to businesses large and small if Virginia invested in its #1 resource — our graduates — in a program akin to say, Missouri’s?
Of course, this could come down to a simple question: is education socialism? I don’t believe so… and given the tremendous pressures many students today have to face that students 20 or 40 years ago did not have to face (namely, the cost of education and cost of living), allowing our best and brightest to wither on the vine seems somewhat at odds with our Jeffersonian inclinations, especially if an educated citizenry is a mandatory requirement for a free republic. Food for thought.
(3) More skills, more trades. They’re not building any new philosophy factories down the road, folks. Encouraging new students to pick up the trades that the New Virginia Economy (is that a thing?) requires to fuel itself is a huge step forward. And how can we do that?
(4) Microfinance. Here’s the endgame. Even though bringing mid-level and large businesses to Virginia is great, we have tremendous untapped potential with local entrepreneurs and small businesses. The generation rising today is the most entrepreneurial, free enterprise leaning, and innovative generation in American history. The best way to untap that energy is to give it the private investment that it requires.
…and that is microfinance.
The Staunton Creative Community Fund is a prime example of what can happen when local investment matches local entrepreneurship. Traditional loans through a bank are difficult for both lender and lendee: 1 in 3 startups typically fail, and banks are hesitant to lend anything less than $50,000 because the margins are so small. What microfinance accomplishes is that it bands together 20 or so small business leaders in a classroom and bundles the loan, not only getting rates that are far cheaper than if all 20 decided to float the market, but then can lend it back to the businesses while keeping a percentage for itself — as self-sustaining program. Best of all, MFIs typically create success stories, with 2 of every 3 businesses succeeding, an increase in salaries from $25,000 to $40,000, and each successful entrepreneur hiring three new employees.
Were Virginia to create a network of regional microfinance institutions, all linked to a K-12 education system that not only rewarded intelligence-rich but means-poor entrepreneurs trained in trades and skills? Trades and skills that could then take advantage of small scale manufacturing and the entire Manufacturing 2.0 phenomenon?
These are not new ideas. From personal experience, we tried implementing something like this on the local level in Fluvanna County, but it dried up on the vine for lack of vision — the left saw it as taking away from public education and other pet projects; the right saw it as unnecessary in the face of immediate tax pressures; the bureaucrats saw an open threat to their own personal pay raises. Thus goes the inner cabal of most local governments in the face of progress and good ideas. Nevertheless… the template is there.
…and it’s a 21st century solution to create 21st century jobs in a 21st century workforce.
As for the testing and teaching up to tests, there’s a simple way to undo that Gordian knot that will involve give. But if a pro-growth, pro-education, pro-entrepreneur solution were put on the table? Let’s be honest: it’s post-secondary education and STEM-H where the battle needs to be fought and won.
This might not be perfect (and I encourage folks to poke holes in it or improve this in the comments section), but it’s a better start than throwing money at our problems.
So count me in as optimistic — and perhaps a bit giddy — about the prospect of something radical, new, and innovative from the Governor on education reform and workforce development. For one, it’s something long overdue in Virginia, and frankly worth the short-term investment for long-term (and perhaps incredible if not definitely incremental) economic prosperity.
