“What we’re saying here is not a gloom-and-doom scenario for the state’s future
What we are saying is that if the supply of workers is not there to meet that demand, the state’s economy will be less skilled than we would have otherwise expected. That doesn’t mean that we will be less skilled than we are today. In fact, we think we will be more highly skilled than we are today, but not as good an outcome as we might expect,” he says.
Conrad says that while the PPIC study has put forth a critical issue before the public and the policy makers, it tells a familiar story that Californians have already heard from economists and demographers about the need to improve K-12 education in the state.
“I completed a similar report on this topic six, seven years ago,” she says. “I’ve been in the state 11 years; we’ve been talking about this issue for 10 of those 11 years. I don’t think a lot has happened. We’ve been slow.”
The study is the latest in a series of reports in the PPIC’s California 2025 project, which documents major trends and forces shaping California over the next two decades. Based in San Francisco, the PPIC is a private, nonpartisan research organization aimed at improving public policy in California. Visit www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=750 for a copy of the study.
-Ronald Roach
There are currently 0 comments on this story.
Click here to post a comment.
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
