When it comes to how Michigan approaches K-12 education, the strategy is simple: “invest heavily.” That’s the word from Knight Kiplinger, editor in chief of the Kiplinger Letter. In a speech before the Michigan Chamber of Commerce’s annual Future Forum, Kiplinger singled out a dramatic increase in educational investment as key to Michigan completing our economic transition. Kiplinger also pointed to a number of quality of life indexes - the fact that Michigan is tops nationally in public golf courses, water craft and snowmobiles - as economic competitive advantages, and argued that our state is better poised to regain our economic footing than is often reported. But the key, Kiplinger noted, is education.

This follows on the heals of a report by the University Research Corridor - made up of the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State - that shows that the activities of the URC created 68,203 Michigan jobs with a net economic impact of $12.8 billion in 2006. According to a review of the report, in addition to the economic impact, the URC also educates more students than any of the other research corridors studied, including Silicon Valley, the North Carolina Research Triangle, and the university communities in Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. In touting the report, UofM president Mary Sue Coleman saw “limitless potential for the future,” and Wayne State president Irvin D. Reid noted that “When state budgets are tight, it makes sense to invest our limited dollars where they will produce the greatest return. No part of the budget produces a greater return on investment than education, and Michigan’s research universities have a unique role in fueling the state’s economic growth.”

All of this is a refreshing change from the budget stalemate coming out of Lansing. What’s needed is a vision for Michigan - a question that all of us need to answer of “What state do I want to live in?” “What kind of state do I want to pass on to my children?” - and then to develop a roadmap of how we implement this vision. We’re going to continue to stall as long as our elected leaders on both sides confine the debate to up-or-down votes on cuts or tax increases. Only when we broaden the debate to build a vision for Michigan’s future that we can all embrace are we going to be able to find a way out of the on-going budget mess, a path not just to a resolution, but a path forward. I think the insights of Knight Kiplinger and the University Research Corridor study show that step one on this path is a focus on education. It’s time to get Michigan moving again.