Dane Linn
State and Federal Roles in International Education in the Schools

November 21, 2002 Washington, D.C. --
The great value of working at National Governors Association (NGA) and having come through the ranks of education is that you look at this world with a much larger view. At present our worldview is now including 24 new governors. We have 10 new governors who are building their legacy, starting their fifth year and, if you are in Iowa, you've only had two governors in 32 years. We have our work cut out for us: a huge new membership.

Now if you take that, and you look at the economics of all this… now let me just tell you about the fiscal realities we have in the states at present. We've had very, very weak state tax collections, as well as--despite what some people think in Washington--a stalled economy. And we've only seen a 1.3% increase in revenue spending. Compared to 8.3% two years ago. So we've been living well over the early 90s. Tax collections are down by 3.2% then originally budgeted; personal income tax is down 12.8%; and our favorite, the corporate tax, is down 21.5%.

41 of our 50 states collected far less revenue than they ever anticipated collecting. So what do we have? 50 billion dollar shortfall. We have no money in the states. Governors are pretty maxed out on what the solution is. (And I am going to turn this positive in a minute.)

Governors have responded in a number of ways. 37 states have cut budgets; 18 more this year than last year. 23 more states are already planning to cut the 2003 fiscal year budget. 15 states have laid off employees. 5 states are using early retirement. We're sin taxed out. There's nowhere else to generate the money, unless we have a fundamental restructuring of the tax system in this country. But, there is hope. Governors, in the work that we do with them, really believe, really understand that this is a knowledge economy that transcends state and national borders. This is just about improving the economy in the state of South Carolina. It is across state borders, it's regionally, but more important it's internationally.

After all we believe that state economies are the economic engines of this country and what have made this country so great. But more pragmatically governors care about jobs, governors care about creating a workforce that is more adaptable to a changing economy, so that people don't stay in the same job for 25 years. As you all know, the average number of careers an individual will experience is seven (I'm on five, I'm looking forward to number six).

It also does include education, but not education alone. Because if indeed the economic strength of this country depends on each individual, each person in this country to compete successfully in this global marketplace, then governors are going to need to work with institutions and the private sector together, operating silos is no longer good enough to build this skilled labor force. It also requires a blended approach. For my colleagues, the Governors Education Advisors, I say this a lot at NGA: I don't just work on education policy. It's education policy, workforce development policy, and economic development policy. We can't afford to operate in worlds of silos in this country, or silos within state governments. States will have to eliminate the barriers to business innovation, workforce training and international trade.

Let me just list a couple of things in closing, what we think governors can do.

• Governors can involve the states academic leaders, those in post-secondary education as full participants in trade missions to ensure that education is an integral part of the focus and ultimately the strategy.
  
  
• Governors can create venues for ongoing state and local collaboration with international counterparts. Culturally, economically and in education there are a lot of good examples in your states. Get governors to see those examples. Talk to them about how they can be scaled up. Islands of excellence aren't good enough. We have to think about how we can take the magnet school in Louisville, Kentucky, and learn from what's been going on in that magnet school and replicate it. What are the implications? What are the connections to state policies?
  
  
• One of the most important strategies is governors to see what other governors are doing. The minute I take the new governor of Wisconsin to the state of Michigan to show him what Michigan is doing…. Green with envy all over his face. Whether it's the right reason, or the wrong reason, it motivates change. They will be sparked by those ideas that have been implemented in other states.
  
  
• The fourth action for governors is to take investments and technology to the next level. We have invested over 10 billion dollars across the states in K-12 technology. And we've largely focused on wiring the schools. We've not done much more than wiring the schools. Think about the role that technology can play particularly for those, who are near and dear to my heart, in the rural parts of this country. I know we have urban centers, but the lack of diversity in opportunity for students in rural parts of this country and it's well overdue that we pay attention to that group.
  
  
• The last is that we build a strong pipeline to develop student skills, so that they can advance to the next level. So that high school graduates leave schools with the knowledge, the skills, including math and science, to prepare them in post-secondary education and to ready them for the workforce and upgrade their skills throughout their lifetime.

I want to end with a story. I want each of you to think just for a minute about a young person in your life, whether it's a grandchild, a child, a nephew, a niece, or you're a grandparent in waiting, or hoping to be a grandparent someday. What do you want for this person in life? I think about my thirteen year old. Aside from trying to survive the teenage years, it's my hope that Lauren, my teenage daughter, who lives six hours south from here in a town of 4,000 people with no diversity and a less-than-stellar school system, to have all the opportunities this world holds for her. Whether it's interacting with students from other cultures, opportunities to take a foreign language that aren't offered in her school district, and the list goes on. We can only provide these opportunities by having governors--we haven't talked about legislators--legislators, chief state schools, business leaders, economic development officers, and so forth. And parents most importantly. For all of us to assume a role in this issue of international education, because the school system can't do it alone. It really requires a partnership. And if we don't do that, then we've really failed our children in succeeding in this economy.

Thank you.

Dane Linn is Education Policy Studies Director, National Governors Association.

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