As business owners and managers, what could be more important to us than encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship?
Perhaps the answer lies in making sure our employees share that goal and are prepared to accomplish it when we hire and train them. Many employers and elected officials however, have serious doubts about the quality of our educational system though. The White House apparently agrees.
Less than a month ago, President Bush launched a nationwide comprehensive effort that he had previously described in general terms during his State of the Union speech. The new effort is called, "The American Competitiveness Initiative: Encouraging Innovation". The Beltway jargon for the program is called "ACI".
According to White House fact sheets, the effort will receive $5.9 billion this year to jump start what is expected to become a $136 billion program over then next ten years.
What does $6 billion buy in the education world today? Perhaps an even more important question, what does that mean for local chamber members here in Carlsbad? Is the Chamber involved in making a difference? Finally, how are our own schools doing here in preparing students for academic and business success? More on all that below, but right now let's see what the President's ACI program is focusing on.
First, the President has just appointed a National Math Panel with leading teachers, scientists and education experts to look at why our students tend to fare poorly in the subject. They will also devise new teaching methods for the topic, set new test and achievement standards, create incentives for teachers to specialize in math and identify new areas of math research that will bring greater competitiveness to our schools and nation. A tall order if there ever was one.
Second, the President would like to make the Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit permanent. The White House says America's private sector funds two-thirds of all R&D conducted in the nation?that's about $200 billion a year. This tax credit encourages R&D spending by allowing business to deduct part of those investments from our tax bills. Because the tax credit has been an on again, off again item for Congress, business has been less than enthusiastic to make long term R&D investments for fear the incentives will be withdrawn or disallowed.
Next, the President is proposing a substantial federal investment of up to $50 billion over the next decade in basic R&D programs at key federal agencies involved in basic research in the physical sciences and engineering. This would be the heart of the ACI program since basic research often translates into technology applications in the private sector. The federal departments of Energy, Commerce and the National Science Foundation would be the major beneficiaries of these investments.
The White House points to many current technologies that have their roots in federally funded basic research programs such as satellite communications, GPS devices, laser eye surgery, personal computers and the ubiquitous Ipod, which benefited from years of research in mirco-drive storage, electrochemistry and signal compression techniques.
The ACI rounds out its efforts with:
? Almost $800 million next year for Academic Competitiveness Grants to college juniors and seniors to study math, science and critical need foreign languages.
? $380 million next year in federal support for K-12 schools to improve the quality of math, science and technological education in the nation.
? Additional incentives to encourage up to 30,000 math and science professionals to offer their real-life business skills using these topics in the classroom. The White House also wants additional training for up to 70,000 high school teachers to offer low income students advance placement (AP) classes in math and science.
For an information-driven, high technology economy such as ours the efforts to improve the math, science and technology skills of our youngsters cannot be understated.
Your Chamber partners with Carlsbad schools and the Carlsbad Educational Foundation through our annual Outstanding Educational Program Awards Dinner. We just concluded the most recent installment May 12th at La Costa. More than $300,000 in grants and awards were distributed to top teachers in our area.
Compared to the statewide average, Carlsbad area schools are head and shoulders above the norm in many key indicators. For example, in AP courses taken and passed, Carlsbad High School students were more than 50% above the statewide average of 25%. CHS students meeting UC or CSU course requirements came in at 55% vs. just 34% statewide. The CHS graduation rate according to schoolwisepress.com was 95% in 2005 vs. just 65.7% in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Perhaps even more shocking were the number of students in LA Unified, the largest school district in the state, who received an "F" in math and science classes. 52,675 students in LA Unified flunked science in the 2004-2005 school year and 88,213 flunked in math according to the district's accountability report card. Add to those numbers the students who received a "D" in the subjects and there were 149,391 students who have serious trouble understanding math and 95,551 who just aren't grasping science. That means 47% of all students got a D or F in math and 38% got a D or F in science at LA Unified.
When almost half a student body cannot master a subject, the effects will have a tsunami-like impact through society. And that brings the subject full circle now, back to you, me and the businesses we run.
Many employers in Carlsbad recruit and hire employees throughout our community and region. We are blessed with the quality of education our students receive locally. Our schools turn out students with a high degree of capability. But there are not enough of them to go around. Therefore we recruit and search for high quality individuals in a market where just under half cannot master basic math and science skills.
Let me encourage each of you to take a good hard look at education in our community, our state and the nation. We are as strong as our weakest link. There are many wonderful programs to involve business in the classroom, mentoring of young students and opportunities for practical experience internships from local colleges and universities.
What an excellent investment in your own business when we look upstream at the quality of our future employees and decide to volunteer some of our time in their enrichment. The rewards could not be more satisfying.
Perhaps the answer lies in making sure our employees share that goal and are prepared to accomplish it when we hire and train them. Many employers and elected officials however, have serious doubts about the quality of our educational system though. The White House apparently agrees.
Less than a month ago, President Bush launched a nationwide comprehensive effort that he had previously described in general terms during his State of the Union speech. The new effort is called, "The American Competitiveness Initiative: Encouraging Innovation". The Beltway jargon for the program is called "ACI".
According to White House fact sheets, the effort will receive $5.9 billion this year to jump start what is expected to become a $136 billion program over then next ten years.
What does $6 billion buy in the education world today? Perhaps an even more important question, what does that mean for local chamber members here in Carlsbad? Is the Chamber involved in making a difference? Finally, how are our own schools doing here in preparing students for academic and business success? More on all that below, but right now let's see what the President's ACI program is focusing on.
First, the President has just appointed a National Math Panel with leading teachers, scientists and education experts to look at why our students tend to fare poorly in the subject. They will also devise new teaching methods for the topic, set new test and achievement standards, create incentives for teachers to specialize in math and identify new areas of math research that will bring greater competitiveness to our schools and nation. A tall order if there ever was one.
Second, the President would like to make the Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit permanent. The White House says America's private sector funds two-thirds of all R&D conducted in the nation?that's about $200 billion a year. This tax credit encourages R&D spending by allowing business to deduct part of those investments from our tax bills. Because the tax credit has been an on again, off again item for Congress, business has been less than enthusiastic to make long term R&D investments for fear the incentives will be withdrawn or disallowed.
Next, the President is proposing a substantial federal investment of up to $50 billion over the next decade in basic R&D programs at key federal agencies involved in basic research in the physical sciences and engineering. This would be the heart of the ACI program since basic research often translates into technology applications in the private sector. The federal departments of Energy, Commerce and the National Science Foundation would be the major beneficiaries of these investments.
The White House points to many current technologies that have their roots in federally funded basic research programs such as satellite communications, GPS devices, laser eye surgery, personal computers and the ubiquitous Ipod, which benefited from years of research in mirco-drive storage, electrochemistry and signal compression techniques.
The ACI rounds out its efforts with:
? Almost $800 million next year for Academic Competitiveness Grants to college juniors and seniors to study math, science and critical need foreign languages.
? $380 million next year in federal support for K-12 schools to improve the quality of math, science and technological education in the nation.
? Additional incentives to encourage up to 30,000 math and science professionals to offer their real-life business skills using these topics in the classroom. The White House also wants additional training for up to 70,000 high school teachers to offer low income students advance placement (AP) classes in math and science.
For an information-driven, high technology economy such as ours the efforts to improve the math, science and technology skills of our youngsters cannot be understated.
Your Chamber partners with Carlsbad schools and the Carlsbad Educational Foundation through our annual Outstanding Educational Program Awards Dinner. We just concluded the most recent installment May 12th at La Costa. More than $300,000 in grants and awards were distributed to top teachers in our area.
Compared to the statewide average, Carlsbad area schools are head and shoulders above the norm in many key indicators. For example, in AP courses taken and passed, Carlsbad High School students were more than 50% above the statewide average of 25%. CHS students meeting UC or CSU course requirements came in at 55% vs. just 34% statewide. The CHS graduation rate according to schoolwisepress.com was 95% in 2005 vs. just 65.7% in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Perhaps even more shocking were the number of students in LA Unified, the largest school district in the state, who received an "F" in math and science classes. 52,675 students in LA Unified flunked science in the 2004-2005 school year and 88,213 flunked in math according to the district's accountability report card. Add to those numbers the students who received a "D" in the subjects and there were 149,391 students who have serious trouble understanding math and 95,551 who just aren't grasping science. That means 47% of all students got a D or F in math and 38% got a D or F in science at LA Unified.
When almost half a student body cannot master a subject, the effects will have a tsunami-like impact through society. And that brings the subject full circle now, back to you, me and the businesses we run.
Many employers in Carlsbad recruit and hire employees throughout our community and region. We are blessed with the quality of education our students receive locally. Our schools turn out students with a high degree of capability. But there are not enough of them to go around. Therefore we recruit and search for high quality individuals in a market where just under half cannot master basic math and science skills.
Let me encourage each of you to take a good hard look at education in our community, our state and the nation. We are as strong as our weakest link. There are many wonderful programs to involve business in the classroom, mentoring of young students and opportunities for practical experience internships from local colleges and universities.
What an excellent investment in your own business when we look upstream at the quality of our future employees and decide to volunteer some of our time in their enrichment. The rewards could not be more satisfying.