Colorado’s private sector needs to take a larger role in promoting education reform in order to keep the state’s economy healthy, according to John H. Stevens, executive director of the Texas Business and Education Coalition.
“Education reform needs to be more directly connected to workforce needs and economic development,” he said Monday.
Stevens was a panelist at the Colorado Business and Education Forum, an event held at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
The forum, presented by Frontier Airlines, was hosted by Colorado Succeeds, the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, the Colorado Forum and The Foundation for Educational Excellence.
Colorado’s high-school graduation rate ranks 30th in the country, according to Colorado Succeeds. Only 40 percent of the state’s high schoolers go on to college, with just 19 percent of those graduating.
Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., moderated the panel. He said companies looking to relocate to Colorado view the education levels of the state’s workforce as a top priority.
“The soft underbelly of the Colorado economy are the low rates of high-school graduation and of kids going on to college,” said Clark. “It’s a problem that needs to be fixed.”
Panelists also included representatives from the Washington Business Roundtable and Zack Neumeyer, chairman of Denver’s Sage Hospitality Resources.
Staff writer Julie Dunn can be reached at 303-954-1592 or jdunn@denverpost.com.
