Governor John Engler
Detroit Economic Club
Detroit - Cobo Hall
Monday, May 22, 2000
Last week, when the Fed raised the prime rate half a point, it climbed
to its highest level in nine years.
That started me thinking of how much the economic climate has changed
here in Detroit and across Michigan these past 9 years - in other words,
during the decade of the '90s.
For many years prior to the '90s, Michigan's unemployment rate was
consistently above the national average - month after month after month.
Now Michigan has come to expect just the opposite.
Just last week, the April numbers came in at 3 percent - almost a
full percentage point below the national rate.
In fact, Michigan's unemployment rate has been below the national
rate for 61 months running.
Not bad for a former "rustbelt" state.
Also since the early '90s, we've had 31 tax cuts that have saved
Michigan taxpayers and businesses $15 billion - which is more than any
other state can boast.
We are well on our way to eliminating entirely the Single Business Tax,
and at the same time steadily reducing the personal income tax.
Welfare reform is another major success. Since 1992, the number of
cases has decreased by more than 60 percent, compared to an average
decrease of 40 percent nationally.
Then there are all the major credit rating agencies - Standard &
Poors, Moody's, and Fitch IBCA - which have given Michigan its highest
ratings in more than 20 years.
I know that at the start of the '90s, many of you were concerned
about unemployment taxes for employers.
They were cut by $200 million this year, marking the 5th year in a row
these taxes have been cut.
Then look at education.
The education of our children has been - and remains - the state's
highest priority. Prior to my taking office, our state was spending $8
billion annually on K-12 education. In fiscal year 2001, education
spending will exceed $13 billion.
And it's not just the amount we spend. We are also spending it more
equitably. Remember prior to Proposal A, when some districts were spending
$3,400 per year, per student ? and others were spending $10,300? We've
been closing the gap ever since, and soon every district will be spending
at least $6,500 per year, per student.
The bottom line: the state of our state is extremely strong, and it's
getting stronger.
Certainly Michigan's financial house has not been in better order in
recent memory.
Now that I've given you an overview, I'd like to spend the
remainder of my time homing in on a topic near and dear to my heart -
and I mean that quite literally since I have three daughters who are now
five years old - and that is how to make Michigan schools even better.
How to make Michigan schools even better - that, my friends, is
something we all have a stake in.
You've heard it said many times, and I'll say it again: children
may be only 25 percent of our population, but they are 100 percent of our
future.
We must do our utmost to prepare our children for the future.
We do that by making sure they are good with books and good with
numbers. That will never change.
But now we must also make sure they are good with computers.
We need to help our students become fully fluent with the language of
the New Economy - and that language is digital.
Our kids must be digitally literate, and computer literate.
No less important is this: making sure the teachers who teach our
children are also digitally and computer literate.
But, as you may suspect, we have a long way to go.
Last year, the journal Education Week conducted a comprehensive survey
of teachers to find out just how much access they have to computers and
how well they know how to use them in the classroom.
Michigan is better off than most other states, but we still share a
number of challenges in common with our competitors.
Perhaps you saw in the newspaper, just last week, the piece by three
Stanford researchers.
Based on numerous surveys, they argue that America is becoming two
nations.
America is becoming two nations because our schools are not doing a
good enough job acquainting students and teachers with computers.
The problem is so serious that we face what the authors call a
"digital divide."
On one side of the divide are the computer literate, those who are
communicating and prospering in revolutionary ways - with e-mail, Web
surfing, e-commerce, stock options, and the like.
On the other side of the divide are the computer illiterate, those
without computers or Internet skills, and they are potentially the new
underclass.
In the future, the personal prosperity of average citizens will depend,
possibly to a significant degree, on which side of the digital divide
people are on.
These Stanford researchers make a further point, and it's sobering.
Even if all schools - rich and poor alike - had Internet access and
the latest computers, there would still be a digital divide in most
schools.
How so?
Because in the typical school, there are just a few teachers who
enthusiastically embrace the new technology and use it to improve their
teaching and make sure their students are competent with it.
The majority of teachers do not use computers that much, or see them as
just a minor supplement to learning.
In fact, a study last year showed that the typical American teacher
actually sat down with students at computers fewer than 10 times a year.
That's got to change if we are going to prepare young people for the
New Economy.
And the only way to change is to build a bridge across the digital
divide.
The first steps we've already made - having our schools wired and
capable of plugging in to the Internet.
We've largely met that challenge.
Now we've got to take the next steps and make sure teachers and
students know how to use the Internet, as well as have the computers to
access it.
That's why, in my most recent State of the State address, I proposed
that we help all Michigan teachers become computer literate and
technologically confident, and give them state-of-the-art professional
development at the same time.
I proposed that we introduce a technology curriculum designed
especially for them.
The curriculum would be devoted to making them computer and Internet
literate.
Then, once they've mastered the technology, we need to make sure our
teachers stay interconnected by providing a computer for their use along
with access to the Internet.
For this initiative to be successful, I believe there must be a
partnership involving colleges, universities, teachers' unions,
technology companies, and state government.
Training and equipping our teachers is so important because education
is not the static, one-size-fits-all process that you and I knew as kids.
It is dynamic and adaptable and responsive to families and their needs.
It is also emerging as the next frontier of entrepreneurial investment,
and I want Michigan and Michigan's teachers to be prepared to lead our
state into that new frontier.
From accessible on-line lesson plans, to subject-specific chat rooms,
to weekly e-mails to parents about their children's progress, the World
Wide Web is waiting to be used to create a community of learning for
teachers and students.
Already our Michigan Virtual University, under the leadership of Dr.
David Spencer, is attracting international attention in this area.
MVU is in the process of launching two critically important new
initiatives.
One is the Michigan Virtual High School, an on-line resource that will
partner with existing schools and offer previously unavailable courses.
Another is the Michigan Advanced Placement Academy, which I will talk
more about on Mackinac Island next weekend.
Suffice it here to mention in passing that our Advanced Placement
Academy will mean that every Michigan student will soon have the
opportunity to challenge himself or herself and earn college credit or
advanced placement while still in high school.
Other program possibilities of our Virtual High School could include
adult learners pursuing their GED, or prisoners needing reading or math or
high-school coursework, or children with special interests or needs.
From how we learn to how we earn, the value of the Internet and
applications like those proposed by MVU are limited only by our
imagination and determination.
Right now, important legislation is making its way through the House.
To launch our Teacher Technology Initiative, I am proposing a one-time
expenditure of $110 million for computers and training.
I am not proposing an ongoing expenditure to be carried by the state.
What I want us to do is jumpstart the opportunity we have to get over
the digital divide.
My proposal is really no different from what is happening in other
sectors - for example, at Ford and at Delta Airlines, as well as at
Northern Michigan University and Michigan State University, as they
provide employees and students with personal computers and - this is
just as important - the training to use them.
As I hope I'm making clear, my proposal is not just about giving
90,000 Michigan teachers a laptop computer and access to the Internet ?
then saying: good bye and good luck.
This is about so much more.
This is about creating a new, common gateway to enable teachers and
students to talk to each other about the best things to learn, and the
best ways to learn them.
No longer will geographic, building, or district boundaries pose a
barrier to learning.
The possibilities are fantastic, and the private sector is responding
in resourceful and creative ways.
Just two weeks ago, my staff and I were treated to an incredible
demonstration by a team of people from America Online.
If you want to see the future, go into their Web site, AOL@school,
a site that you and every connected teacher can access today.
Having a virtual portal like AOL@school
opens up all kinds of possibilities. Think of it:
- Teachers talking to students, anytime, anywhere, when tutoring is
needed for that homework assignment, or curiosity prompts a
question.
- Teachers talking to teachers, anytime, anywhere, as they trade
lesson plans and teaching techniques and build up a community of
best practices.
- Teachers talking to parents. This may be the bane of students'
existence, as parents will be able to keep track of Johnny and Mary's
homework assignments and test scores on a weekly or even daily
basis!
- Teachers and students both ? talking to the private sector, to
industry, to the workforce, and being informed about and enriched by
all the exciting developments in the world beyond the classroom.
- Teachers talking to consultants who can help them develop
professionally, because now there will be what might be called a
"professional development infrastructure" in our state.
- Teachers talking to our state Department of Education, which will
have an evolving model core curriculum based on best practices. It
will be the best in the world, because we want Michigan teachers to
be the best in the world.
These are just a few of the possibilities - the sky's the limit.
As you can see, I get really excited about all these developments.
And I am convinced that we as a society will reap huge returns from our
investment in a Teaching Technology Initiative.
What are some of my expectations?
Let me list a few.
First and foremost, more of our children will overcome the digital
divide that now exists both in Michigan classrooms and in society at
large.
They will be better prepared to participate in the New Economy and be
more comfortable and competent with the technology that is driving that
economy.
A number of our students will hopefully elect to go into the tens of
thousands of IT jobs that will need to be filled. And many of them are
pretty high paying jobs.
Whatever they do, if our students are computer literate, they will be
more productive workers, have more opportunity, earn more money, and be
better able to "pursue happiness" however they define it.
In the short run, our Teaching Technology Initiative means there will
be more accountability in our schools.
Because, as I say, parents, students, and teachers will all be
communicating better with each other.
We will have the opportunity to create a community of learning such as
has never before existed.
Speaking of communicating, I am going to ask something of you - and
then I am going to stop talking.
In Lansing, the House Appropriations Committee will take up this
far-seeing proposal tomorrow [Tuesday].
I am eager to get our Teacher Technology Initiative launched by this
fall, when our kids go back to school.
I urge you to contact your legislators in Lansing.
Help our students and teachers overcome the "digital divide."
Help put the world of the New Economy literally at their fingertips.
Help our young people develop their full potential.
I can think of few ways to make a greater impact for the great state of
Michigan.
Thank you!
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