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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>There's a great article in the Sunday (June 6)
Lewiston Tribune, page 1E (business section), entitled "Idaho labor pool a
matter of quantity over quality." The article was reprinted from the Boise
Statesman.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>In summary, the article explains that Idaho has
plenty of unemployed people, but very few of those have the skills needed by the
high-tech companies that are sought by every economic development plan
(including Moscow's).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>"The talent pool isn't there," explained one of the
high-tech entrepreneurs.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Idaho is falling behind because the public
education system (K-12 and college) has been slowly strangled by the Legislature
and the Republican Party.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>As is explained in the article, we are now seeing
two significant results to this anti-education policy. First, there just
are not enough students who graduate in the needed fields because those college
programs do not have the funds to grow. Second, when talented workers
consider moving to Idaho, they want to know that their own kids will be getting
a "world-class" education -- and when they discover the problems with K-12
funding in Idaho, those workers chose to go elsewhere.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>It's time to move Idaho ahead</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>BL</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>