This is a special time of year, a time when we celebrate educational achievements with a tapestry of graduation and commencement exercises filled with memories of passage and excitement at embarking on the next stage of life.
It’s in this context that we should commit to doing all we can to assure success in our schools. Author Thomas Friedman, in his book “The World is Flat,” reminds us how we now must compete with India and China and of the sense of urgency we must create to reform our public schools.
A competitive public school system is directly tied to a region’s ability to compete for jobs in today’s global marketplace. Colorado’s business leadership is deeply committed to the future of Denver Public Schools because of what the health of our public schools says about how we value education and because of the role schools play in providing a future workforce.
Employers considering relocation or expansion evaluate a community in two major categories. First, they look at the overall business environment including geographic location, available workforce, tax structure, political climate, the transportation system and other important factors. Second are considerations about quality of life, including housing affordability, cultural opportunities, recreational amenities, health care and, perhaps most important, the quality of the public schools.
Any company considering long-term investment in our region must be concerned about a continuous supply of highly skilled and educated workers. We compete with other regions on a variety of factors, many related to education. According to a report released last fall by the Denver Metro Chamber’s affiliate, the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., Colorado’s rankings in a variety of categories leave much to be desired. (For more information, visit and click on “Toward a More Competitive Colorado.”)
We are particularly concerned with declining high school graduation rates, and the disconnect between requirements of our high-technology sector and the low levels of funding for education. Colorado’s competitive position is now seriously challenged. A knowledge-based economy cannot flourish without education systems that consistently produce high-quality graduates. We must improve DPS if we are to remain competitive.
We feel the district has remarkable leadership in the team of Superintendent Michael Bennet and school board President Theresa Pena, and we know the whole business community wants to help.
In February, DPS released “The Denver Plan,” a blueprint for strategically overhauling the district. We support the district’s efforts to realign its budget to meet shifts in academic direction and physical needs. Generating more revenue can only be achieved by increasing enrollment and taking a hard look at the district’s fixed costs.
As enrollment shrinks, the cost per student for maintaining under-capacity facilities is a concern. No business could continue to operate and support capacity that it doesn’t need. The chamber supports the district’s plan to consolidate and strengthen its academic offerings into fewer, better schools – unfortunately, pitting the competing values of neighborhood schools against the efficiency of our education system.
All of us have a stake in the success of DPS. We must understand the issues faced by the district and the sense of urgency surrounding it. We must support those actions that facilitate change, increase efficiency and implement proven best practices. We must help create a sense of optimism that by working together we can improve the district. Finally, we must let the school board know that the business community cares about and supports the decisions the board has made.
Every urban school district in the country is facing these challenges. What they don’t have is the experience creating a collective will to get it done. Our region has made wise investments over the past few years – Denver International Airport, FasTracks and passage of Referendum C, to name a few. We have the leadership and the resources to get the job done in the right way.
The health and wealth of a city can be measured by the quality of its school system. Being able to say that we have the best public school system in the country may be the best marketing tool we can have.
Tom Honig is Rocky Mountain regional president of Wells Fargo Bank and the current chair of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.
