Virtually every economist agrees on one thing: Michigan badly needs a better-educated work force.
Yet if the state Legislature's actions in this year's budget battles are any indication, Lansing seems determined to not only fail to solve that problem, but to actually make it worse.
A little background: For years, as the domestic auto industry has shriveled, development officials have scrambled to attract so-called "new economy" jobs to the state.
Michigan has a number of handicaps, from a perceived "union mentality" to a crumbling infrastructure. But perhaps the biggest strike against the Wolverine State is the education gap. Michigan has a smaller percentage of young adults with college degrees than the national average, or any of its surrounding states.
The reasons for this are fairly obvious. For nearly a century, Michigan had a largely brawn-based economy. Young men could graduate from high school, and the next day get a good-paying job bending metal or attaching fenders on the assembly line.
Those jobs, however, have virtually vanished. In the rare cases when auto companies are hiring now, they are paying less and demanding at least an associates' degree. The era of high-paying jobs for masses of essentially unskilled labor are over, forever.
Five years ago, Lt. Gov. John Cherry chaired a special commission that concluded that Michigan needed to double the number of college degrees it was issuing within the next decade.
Yet since then, the state has cut spending for higher education more than has any surrounding state. In order to make it possible for more students to attend college, Gov. Jennifer Granholm did push through the Michigan Promise grant, which was supposed to guarantee students who go to in-state colleges up to $4,000.
This year, facing a huge budget deficit, the Legislature eliminated the Promise grant, despite threats from the governor to veto that when the long-overdue budget bill reaches her desk.
That has left colleges, which credited the students' accounts, getting ready to bill them. Meanwhile, 96,000 students who were counting on that money are worried and angry -- as are their parents.
The lawmakers made that decision in spite of a new study showing that 321,000 young adults have some college but no degree, the largest percentage for any industrial state.
The University of Michigan-Dearborn study found that many of these "stop-outs" would like to finish their degrees if they could afford to do so, and would be more employable if they did.
But the Michigan Legislature doesn't seem to see education as a priority. The lawmakers did find some money to save the Michigan State Fair. But they drew the line at helping students finish college.
And the lawmakers are also close to inflicting major cuts on elementary and high school education. Earlier, leaders of both parties agreed to cut the state school aid grant by a staggering $218 per student. But rank-and-file legislators refused to agree.
The lawmakers, who were obligated to finished the budget by Sept. 30, then hastily passed a 30-day continuation budget, largely to solve the education question. But nothing was solved in the first week. Some lawmakers want to use the last remaining dollars from President Obama's stimulus money. That could conceivably cut the schools' per pupil loss to a much more manageable $60.
Other lawmakers disagreed, saying that some should be kept in reserve to help cushion what is expected to be an even bigger blow next year. (Assuming the remaining stimulus money is not raided to fill some other budget shortfall before that.) Meanwhile, things got progressively worse for the state's 500-odd school districts. The lack of a final budget meant the U.S. Department of Education was not able to issue $11 million in scheduled aid to Michigan schools.
That was bad; what may be worse is the state's next scheduled school aid payment, due Oct. 20. Unless the Legislature at least passes a continuation budget for the schools by Monday, the state will be unable to disburse $43 million in payments to the districts.
That, everyone knows, could be disastrous. There is an alternative, Michigan State University Economics Professor Charles Ballard noted. If the Legislature increased the state income tax from the present 4.35 percent to 5.1 percent, the budget could be balanced without any significant spending cuts.
But Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, has vowed to fight any tax increases. The governor has suggested a few minor measures, some of which were passed by the House. Yet none were designed to restore the education cuts. And it was unclear whether Bishop would even allow a vote on any tax increases of any kind.
Today's Michigan, everyone agrees, lacks money. But the state's leaders may lack something bigger: Courage and political will.
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