This isn’t your father’s job market. Kids today are competing for jobs with a highly educated and motivated workforce from around the U.S., as well as China, India and other overseas nations.
At the same time, Minnesota businesses depend on a trained workforce to provide products and services that drive our economy.
Furthermore, the state’s infrastructure would benefit from investing in education by reducing the community’s reliance on state-sponsored health care services, remedial post-secondary education costs, and reduced crime spending.1
- Minnesota would save more than $224 million in health care costs over the course of the lifetimes of each class of dropouts had they earned their diplomas.
- More than $1.3 billion would be added to Minnesota’s economy by 2020 if students of color graduated at the same rate as white students.
- If Minnesota’s high schools graduated all students ready for college, the state would save more than $89 million a year in community college remediation costs and lost earnings.
- Minnesota’s economy would see a combination of savings and revenue of more than $77 million in reduced crime spending and increased earning each year if the male high school graduation rate increased by just 5 percent.
We know the costs
P.S. Minnesota advocates for adequate, sustainable education funding that’s rationally tied to student achievement.
In 2006, our non-partisan coalition commissioned an estimate of the cost of adequate education in Minnesota, based on Gov. Pawlenty’s 2004 education funding reform study.
It is clear from this research that if Minnesota is to continue to progress toward ensuring that all students meet federal and state performance expectations, we must significantly increase our investment in public education. A $1 billion annual additional investment will educate our children to today’s performance standards. Two billion dollars in annual additional investment is needed to educate our children to tomorrow’s standards.
Sources
- 1 Alliance for Excellent Education
