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The Business Of Education
by Randy Barrett
After decades of leaving education policy to bureaucrats and Congress, the business sector is aggressively pushing to improve America's math and science literacy.
The new stance is more than enlightened self-interest. With Asian universities graduating four times more engineers than American schools, industry now frames the issue in the stark terms of economic survival. "We need to make sure Congress understands the breadth and urgency of the problem," said John Castellani, president of the Business Roundtable (BRT).
Last week, BRT led a coalition of 14 industry groups -- including the technology group AeA, the Council on Competitiveness, the National Association of Manufacturers, TechNet and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- to call for a doubling of holders of American science, technology, engineering and math degree, to 400,000 by 2015.
Driving the request are several decades of data showing steep declines in science literacy and in the quality and quantity of American students. According to the National Science Board, the number of U.S. engineering degree holders has dropped 20 percent since 1985. Add to that a looming demographic shift that will see one quarter of American scientists retiring by 2010 and industry and academia are clearly worried.
"We're seeing a deficit in young people getting involved [in math and science], and we really need to make a substantial investment and ratchet it up big time," said Glenn Ruskin, director of legislative and government affairs for the American Chemical Society.
A Welcome Lobbying Partnership
Both business and academic lobbying groups say the key is enhanced funding. According to BRT, the federal government spends about $900 million per year on math and science education. The group would like to see that figure doubled to $1.8 billion per year, primarily through improved funding of college scholarships and loan-forgiveness programs.
But equally important is reshaping the public perception of science from a rarefied realm for socially challenged bookworms to a desirable career path, advocates said. The BRT coalition plans to spend $5 million on a public-relations campaign to improve the image of science and make it more palatable and accessible to new generations of Americans.
Gerry Wheeler, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), cited the need to boost funding for science teachers in elementary and secondary schools. The curriculum is not the challenge, he said. "There's stuff there that's good." The bigger issue is that half of new science teachers leave the profession within the first five years -- usually for much bigger salaries in the private sector. "We need to give science teachers what they need to build good scientific adults," Wheeler said.
As young scientists migrate to industry for bigger paychecks and better working conditions, Wheeler worries that the educational seed corn is being consumed and fears that nobody will be left to train new scientists. "We've got a huge hill to climb to keep some piece of that scientific graduate class in class," he said.
While the education community has been fighting for more funding and respect for decades, the arrival of the business sector at their side is universally welcomed. "This is an absolutely great thing," said Jodi Peterson, director of legislative affairs for NSTA.
Ruskin agreed: "This is a tremendous development." With industry's deep pockets and sterling connections on Capitol Hill, education lobbyists said such groups can push the science-education agenda far more quickly and effectively than educators alone.
Finding The Federal Funding
There are numerous signs that Congress is now paying attention to the issue. On July 22, the House Education and the Workforce Committee approved by voice vote language to authorize $40 million for 1,000 new collegiate science and math scholarships and $5,000 loan-forgiveness vouchers to graduates who commit to teaching science. The language is part of a broader bill, H.R. 609.
"Careers in these disciplines support the United States in maintaining its leadership in innovation and in ensuring that we can solve challenging problems such as designing new technologies, protecting our nation and ensuring a strong economy," Michigan Republican Vernon Ehlers, a member of the committee and also the chairman of the House Science Environment, Technology and Standards Subcommittee, said in a statement.
But finding the money to fund the authorization remains problematic. House lawmakers grafted their initiative into the authorization for the existing Byrd Honors Scholarship Program, which grants money to college students who excel in various disciplines, including science.
Sen. Robert Byrd, D- W.Va., is unhappy with the prospect of refocusing the program toward the sciences and has suggested that authorizers find another pot of money. Byrd is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, but advocates of the redirection said he does not sit on the Senate committee that authorizes education spending and therefore cannot dictate the program's direction. Still, Byrd is a formidable lawmaker with plenty of connections.
"It's going to be a hard sell," one lobbyist familiar with the situation said.
Sen. Michael Enzi, R-Wyo., has introduced a measure, S. 9, that encompasses a series of initiatives to boost funding for the Head Start early-education program and to offer loan forgiveness to college graduates entering the science and math teaching fields. "Better mathematics, science and reading programs in high school are needed to ensure that every student graduates with the skills necessary to succeed in postsecondary education and a globally competitive workforce," the bill said.
The Pitch For Women And Immigrants
The academic and business communities continue to wrestle with the dearth of women and minorities in scientific professions. By raising funding for math and science education, advocates hope to attract more of this demographic, as students tend to follow the money.
"The best and brightest may not be where you expect them to be," Ruskin said.
Corporations spend about $65 billion per year educating their employees. "We are one of the largest sources for training," Castellani said. Many companies such as United Technologies give sizable scholarships, but providing training on the back end of the educational system is not enough, he said.
To help boost the overall number of working scientists in the United States, the BRT coalition is urging Congress to reform the visa system to let the nation retain the best science, technology, engineering and math students from abroad. A backlog of security clearances also is keeping many qualified American scientists from considering classified work.
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