When Ray Kolibaba says he supports temporary modifications in Colorado’s Taypayer’s Bill of Rights, he speaks not as a bleeding heart looking to redistribute the state’s wealth.
He speaks as an aerospace and defense executive in search of a workforce.
Like every capitalist, Kolibaba wants taxes as low as possible. But like every capitalist, Kolibaba wants to make his business grow.
He says he won’t be able to unless voters approve TABOR revisions in November.
So Kolibaba, who runs Raytheon’s 2,600-worker Space Systems business in Aurora, will tell anyone willing to listen why they should vote for Referendums C and D in this fall’s election.
It’s as simple as the ability of Colorado’s colleges and universities to produce graduates who can do the technological and scientific jobs he hopes to offer.
These jobs not only include health insurance but also pay enough for folks to buy a house and a car and all the other stuff that sustains a state’s financial health.
Before you vote on Referendums C and D, think hard about these jobs. Kolibaba says you can kiss a bunch of them goodbye if TABOR reform fails and higher-
education budgets must be cut as they have been the past few years.
State colleges and universities “have survived so far,” said Kolibaba, who serves on the external advisory board of the University of Colorado’s School of Engineering. “But they are reaching the critical point of being able to maintain and improve versus actually going downhill. That’s my main concern.”
The inevitable descent of higher education into mediocrity ought to bother everyone. Colorado’s technical and science sector already must recruit many employees from out of state, Kolibaba said.
“We can’t continue to do that,” he said.
Colorado’s finest public colleges and universities rarely, if ever, crack the top 50 in national ratings. Letting them slip more will affect the state’s quality of life across the board.
“The quality of education is what we’re looking at,” Kolibaba said of business executives. “If we don’t fund (higher education), the high-quality students are going to go elsewhere, and the quality of the education is going to go down.”
The money this state gives to higher education is “well below the norm” of what other states contribute to their universities, Kolibaba said. “We’re about 49th as far as what the state provides,” he said.
It is nothing to be proud of. This isn’t about punishing a system that gave us the CU football scandal or Ward Churchill. It is about committing slow, steady economic suicide.
Kolibaba explains that better than almost anyone. So hear him out:
“I’m here to run a business and to grow it and support our shareholders while producing a great product for our customers. If you want economic development, there’s a cost associated with that to make sure we have the right quality workforce.
“That’s what frustrates me. There are a number of states who are looking at growth, and they understand. The value in economic development is directly proportional to the educational level of the workforce.
“What I’m looking at for my business is: Where are we going to be three to five years from now? Where are we going to be five to 10 years from now? We don’t have the pipeline – and the university system is the key to this – to be able to bring in qualified people to take the jobs that we should have available.
“If that’s the case, most of these jobs will go somewhere else. (The jobs) are going to be filled, and they’re going to be filled where it’s easy to find the qualified people.
“With the budget situation, we’re not paying attention to our future. We’re sacrificing our future for feeling good today.”
Ray Kolibaba is not part of a politically partisan conspiracy, as opponents of Referendums C and D would have you believe. Ray Kolibaba is the voice of big business, the voice of capitalism. Ignore him at your own peril.
Jim Spencer’s column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He can be reached at 303-820-1771 or jspencer@denverpost.com.
