Are you connecting the dots?

Economic development supporters heard a clear message last week that our state is “connecting the dots” between education and a strong economy.

While progress is certainly being made and a powerful vision has been embraced, we should probably hold off major celebrations for another decade or so.

Speakers at Thursday’s Jobs Plus luncheon acknowledged that while Idaho is at the front of the train in adding jobs, it’s closer to the caboose in paying employees livable wages. An hour after the annual meeting had concluded, The Press received a sobering press release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Wages in the Coeur d’Alene area are 21 percent below the national average.

The day before, the top front-page story in The Press soft-peddled what should be, shall we say, highly motivating information for educators and other community members, too. While Kootenai County school districts all performed better than the national average on the last round of exams testing students’ preparedness for college or careers, the cold truth is that the nation as a whole is doing poorly and the large majority of our high school juniors in Kootenai County are nowhere near ready to succeed in college.

For anyone who hasn’t heard the wake-up call, let alone heeded it, now’s as good a time as any. Idaho in general and Kootenai County more than most needs a lot more jobs that pay well. These jobs aren’t going to magically materialize because we live in a gorgeous place; established businesses that pay well aren’t flocking to this pro-business environment because they can’t find the workers they need. While folks at University of Idaho, North Idaho College and Innovation Collective are doing their utmost to build that workforce, it’s a long-term effort. Same goes for K-12, which as Lt. Gov. Brad Little said Thursday, must dramatically raise the literacy level of our student population or everything else is for naught.

Getting the whole community behind education is imperative. Pay day in a big way isn’t just around the corner, but getting Johnny up to reading level by third grade, more girls writing code during summer camps, and connecting far more Idaho students with post-secondary training and education will get Idaho where it needs to go.