The future of Dallas’ public education system is the future of Dallas
A pandemic. A short but devastating recession. A market for living space and workplaces turned upside down.
In the past 20 months, a wave of unpredictable dynamics has gripped the Dallas-Fort Worth economy. North Texas weathered the short-term storm admirably, but to remain the “capital of America’s heartland,” as Joel Kotkin and Cullum Clark recently called us, we need a world-class public education system that produces the strongest talent pipeline in the country.
It won’t be easy to develop. To get there we need to answer some basic questions from various stakeholders.
The first questions come from entrepreneurs who want to stay in our region or move here. Imagine a business manager visiting a potential new office location with a city’s chamber of commerce. The manager is undoubtedly curious about the prices of office space, the ease of transport and the regulatory environment. But when the job market is still tense, one question is paramount: Will I have enough qualified and well-trained employees to work here, not just today, but in 20 years’ time?
For Dallas to be successful, the answer for our hypothetical CEO must be a resounding yes. And to come to the conclusion that an infrastructure is more important than any other: a well-financed, well-coordinated network of K-12 and universities that prepares students for the careers of today and tomorrow.
Anyone who knows the city’s recent history knows that this situation is anything but hypothetical. In 2018, Amazon selected New York and Virginia for its second headquarters over Dallas, pointing to an underdeveloped talent pipeline and our anemic investments in education shortlisted compared to other cities.
However, recruiting executives and corporate headquarters is not enough. To take our place as America’s premier city, we need residents of all zip codes that are part of our growing economy. That means answering a different set of questions from someone very different from our hypothetical CEO.
Imagine a high school graduate living in Pleasant Grove today. As she enters the final year of high school, her mind is also full of questions: Can I afford to go to college? Have I been prepared for higher education in the past 12 years? Even if I can afford college, can I afford the gas price to get to campus? Will I ever be able to afford to rent my own apartment, let alone build up a long-term fortune?
For Dallas to be successful, the answer must be a resounding yes for this student as well. And to say yes, we need the same well-funded, well-coordinated network of K-12 and colleges.
Our institution, Dallas College, along with our many partner institutes across the region, is fully committed to getting Dallas to answer yes to both the executive director and the student. We have dozens of professional training programs for traditional and non-traditional students. We have hundreds of partnerships with local employers. We have new ways to support students with psychosocial advice, individual success coaching and rental assistance.
As a community, we’ve worked to align our K-12, Community College, and four-year university pathways, and we’ve invested in Dallas County Promise to help remove financial barriers.
This work has had real impact. According to new data from an Emsi Burning Glass Economic Impact Study, Dallas College has an income of 3.9 billion people with a high school diploma or equivalent working in Texas for the 2019-2020 fiscal year.
The Dallas Independent School District is also making real strides. Between the 2013-2014 school year and the 2018-2019 school year, the number of students enrolled in universities who failed to meet state academic standards decreased by 76%.
But despite this progress as an institution and as a region, we know that our responses to the chairman of the board and especially to the students are not as strong as they could be. The statistics tell a troubling story:
· Of adults aged 25 to 34, 64% of Dallas County’s white residents have a post-secondary degree, while only 31% of black residents and 15% of Hispanic residents have a college degree.
· White residents are 5.2 times more likely than Hispanic residents to have a bachelor’s degree and 2.4 times more likely than black residents.
The median household income for those living north of Interstate 30 is $ 72,327 compared to $ 56,613 for those living south of I-30.
A 2018 study by the Urban Institute placed Dallas in last place (278th) for economic and racial inclusion.
As daunting as these statistics are, this Pleasant Grove student is counting on us not to give up. We must continue to support high quality, free public education and treat their future and the future of our region as one and the same because they are.
This work to train our future workforce is much more difficult than simply offering tax breaks or reducing a regulatory burden, but the long-term benefits are far greater. If we get this public education work right, with the right funding, data-driven approaches, and a collaborative spirit, we will be ready to answer yes to the young woman’s questions at Pleasant Grove, not just today. In twenty years, when she visits a new location in our city as managing director, we will answer her again with yes.
Josh Skolnick is the executive director of the Dallas College Foundation.
Pyeper Wilkins is Vice Chancellor, Personnel and Promotion, Dallas College.
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