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Businesses stress education

Focus groups: Tax cuts take back seat to improving schools

Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News

Published April 19, 2006 at midnight

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Business leaders believe improving schools is more important to the state's economy than such traditional steps as lowering corporate taxes.

Focus groups with 44 business people and one union leader at six Colorado locations found deep consensus that students graduating from high school lack academic skills, such as math and reading, said communications consultant Walt Klein, who conducted the sessions.

The participants also said high school graduates lack "soft skills," such as how to behave during a job interview, Klein said.

Business people reached "an instant consensus that high school output doesn't match up to today's need," Klein said. Panel members "had a passionate feeling about the subject."

Klein presented his results to a group of business and education leaders appointed by Gov. Bill Owens that is looking at ways public schools can coordinate their programs with business and higher education. The group commissioned Klein's study.

Improving education was rated 8.8 on a scale of 10 when focus group members were asked their opinion of various approaches to sustaining the Colorado economy.

Tax incentives to attract corporations to Colorado was rated at 7.6, while reducing the corporate income tax rate trailed at 5.3.

Klein said the results did not vary among the six focus group sites around the state.

"Over and over, they talked about the math weakness of high school graduates," Klein said.

Denver Public Schools superintendent Michael Bennet, a member of the Owens panel, said he hopes the comments from business people will translate into support for his effort to raise DPS graduation requirements.

Many elements in the community - including business people - know that standards are not high enough. But most of the phone calls to the board of education oppose efforts to stiffen the standards.

"You turn around and they're not there," he said of supporters.