Educating Your Future Workforce: A Call to Action for Employers

Of all the policy imperatives facing the Baker administration, there is none more relevant to our economic future than public education.  Preparing future generations with the knowledge demands of our 21^st century economy is perhaps the most critical component of our economic success.  Unfortunately, our shortfalls in this area are becoming all too apparent to the Massachusetts business community who report deficiencies in the preparedness of the workforce and trouble finding people with the right skills to fill positions.

Last week, the MBAE, and our partners at Associated Industries of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, brought policymakers and business leaders together to consider the problem:  Massachusetts faces serious shortages of college graduates and skilled workers to fill open and future positions in key industries that sustain our economy and drive future growth.  What roles must our K-12 education system, public colleges and universities, and the business community play to fill our workforce pipeline with qualified candidates?

Massachusetts’ Commissioner of Higher Education Richard Freeland summarized alarming findings from the recently released Degrees of Urgency report.  Rising demand for higher skill levels, changing demographics, and historic underfunding in public higher education in Massachusetts have created a “perfect storm” that threatens the state’s economy.  The third annual Vision Project report projects that by 2025 the state will experience a projected shortfall of 55 to 65,000 needed graduates.

The Commissioner’s message was clear. A big part of the problem is money.  Massachusetts currently ranks 46^th in the nation in average need-based financial aid.  But Freeland also pointed to other factors such as: the lack of cohesion between K-12 and higher education; and the outdated MCAS assessments that allow students to graduate at proficiency rates too low to match entry level college course requirements, leading to costly remediation and low graduation rates.

“We’ve got students taking remedial courses with their Pell grants saying:  how did this happen?  I passed the MCAS?,” said Freeland.

WGBH’s Callie Crossley led a discussion about the findings of the report, featuring panelists Maura Banta,IBM’s Director Of Global Citizenship Initiatives in Education; Ted Lepres, former CEO and current Chairman of the Nypro Advisory Board at Nypro, a Jabil Company; and Bill Walczak, MBAE’s Board Chairman.  All agreed that our current K through 16 education system does not align with the economic demands of the Commonwealth and making the changes necessary to correct this problem is essential to growing a qualified workforce.  For a state dependent on talent to attract and retain businesses which can often find lower labor, energy and transportation costs elsewhere in the country and around the world, this serves as a dramatic wake up call.

“We don’t have a lot of natural resources.  What we have is intellectual capital and we are not doing a good enough job of mining that,” said Bill Walczak.

Twenty five years ago the business community led the charge for dramatic improvements in education that resulted in significant progress.  It must do so once again to address the urgent challenge we currently face.  A poll of employers found that 84% agree our schools needs to change to be better aligned with the demands of the economy.  MBAE has a plan to do just that – seize The New Opportunity to Lead.  We must modernize our education system – moving it from a 19th century model to one that can adapt and innovate as our 21st century demands, but it will require the support of business.  We ask you do join us in doing three things:

• Inform – Educate yourself and your colleagues, neighbors and friends by getting the facts about the challenges we face and the opportunity we have to address them.
• Engage – Join with MBAE. Become a member or a partner.  Collaborate with us.
• Mobilize – Get your trade and local business organizations on board.

If we want young people to graduate from high school genuinely college and career ready, with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed for lifelong learning and active citizenship in the 21st Century, we have to seize the opportunity now.